Monday Morning Museum: Byzantine Art

Byzantine Art – Fifth Century A. D. to 1453

Byzantine art is the artistic products of the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire, as well as the nations and states that inherited culturally from the empire. Though the empire itself emerged from Rome's decline and lasted until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, many Eastern Orthodox states in Eastern Europe, as well as to some degree the Muslim states of the eastern Mediterranean, preserved many aspects of the empire's culture and art for centuries afterward. – Wikipedia.org

In addition to Lippo Memmi (see art example below), other later centuries Byzantine artists are Guido da Siena and Dionisii.

St. Peter, circa 1330, by Lippo Memmi (1290-1347)

Like Siena painters of his generation the prevailing characteristic of Memmi's work being slender, supple grace. True poetry emerges in his St Peter panel, Peter is no longer severe and dignified, but temperate and merciful, as if he has pity upon the longing soul of the believer. In a deeply moving way Memmi gives his figures a mystical air. – HistoryOfPainters.com

Last Monday’s Art – Baroque Art
Next Monday’s Art – Camden Town Group

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Spring!!!

"Vernal Equinox 2013" graphic created by Adrean Darce Brent

Monday Morning Museum: Baroque Art

Baroque Art – Europe in the Seventeenth Century

The Baroque (US /bəˈroʊk/ or UK /bəˈrɒk/) is a period of artistic style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, architecture, literature, dance and music. The style began around 1600 in Rome, Italy and spread to most of Europe. – Wikipedia.org

In addition to Gianlorenzo Bernini (see art example below), other artists of the Baroque are Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Annibale Carracci, Peter Paul Rubens, Rembrandt Van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer and Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez.

The Chair of Saint Peter, circa 1647-1653, by Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680)

Symbolically, the chair Bernini designed had no earthly counterpart in actual contemporary furnishings: it is formed entirely of scrolling members, enclosing a coved panel where the upholstery pattern is rendered as a low relief of Christ giving the keys to Peter. Large angelic figures flank an openwork panel beneath a highly realistic bronze seat cushion, vividly empty: the relic is encased within.[2] The cathedra is lofted on splayed scrolling bars that appear to be effortlessly supported by four over-lifesize bronze Doctors of the Church. The cathedra appears to hover over the altar in the basilica's apse, lit by a central tinted window through which light streams, illuminating the gilded glory of sunrays and sculpted clouds that surrounds the window. – Wikipedia.org

Last Monday’s Art – The Barbizon School
Next Monday’s Art – Byzantine Art

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Monday Morning Museum: The Barbizon School

The Barbizon School – France in the mid-Nineteenth Century

The Barbizon school of painters were part of an art movement towards Realism in art, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic Movement of the time. The Barbizon school was active roughly from 1830 through 1870. It takes its name from the village of Barbizon, France, near the Forest of Fontainebleau, where many of the artists gathered. Some of the most prominent features of this school are its tonal qualities, color, loose brushwork, and softness of form. – Wikipedia.org

In addition to Constant Troyon (see art example below), other members of this school include Theodore Rousseau and Charles-François Daubigny.

Country Woman Riding a Donkey by Constant Troyon (1810-1865)

Last Monday’s Art – The Ashcan School
Next Monday’s Art – Baroque Art

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International Women's Day 2013

Happy International Women's Day to all women around the globe - to those who are safe and to those who fear; to those who have friends and to those who are alone; to those who have hope and to those who are without hope - may the recogntion, celebration and support of this day give us strength to keep the struggle moving forward in the creation of a better life for all.

Nothing is IMPOSSIBLE, the word itself says "I'M POSSIBLE". - Audrey Hepburn


Image is from internationalwomensday.com

Monday Morning Museum: The Ashcan School

The Ashcan School – New York City from the early 1900s to circa 1913

The Ashcan School, also called the Ash Can School, is defined as a realist artistic movement that came into prominence in the United States during the early twentieth century, best known for works portraying scenes of daily life in New York's poorer neighborhoods. The movement grew out of a group known as The Eight, whose only show together in 1908 created a sensation. – Wikipedia.org

In addition to William James Glackens (see art example below), other members of The Ashcan School are Robert Henri, George Wesley Bellows, Everett Shinn, George Benjamin Luks and John French Sloan

Chez Mouquin, 1905 by William James Glackens (1870-1938)

In this vivid painting, William Glackens portrayed the members of his circle at their favorite meeting place, the restaurant Mouquin's in New York City. Jeanne Mouquin, the proprietor's wife, shares a drink with James B. Moore, a wealthy playboy and restaurateur, while the artist's wife, Edith, and art critic Charles Fitzgerald are reflected in the mirror behind them. Jeanne Mouquin is the focal point of the composition; not only did Glackens paint her outfit with eye-catching brushwork, but he also used the mystery of her intent gaze to imbue the work with tension. By combining portraiture and genre painting, the artist avoided clear narrative conventions and helped usher in a mode of painting suited to the uncertainties of modern urban life. However, the unusually candid depiction of drinking was criticized for its perceived impropriety. – Art Institute of Chicago

Last Monday’s Art – Arte Povera
Next Monday’s Art – The Barbizon School

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