1910-1950

1910-1950
Hello and greetings once again to the arts and aesthetics blog. We move from the broad strokes of expressionism to surrealism and even Dadaism.


Exhibit A: Matisse’s the knife thrower.



Part of a gallery of cutouts done by Matisse, These cutouts have a Hawaiian influence to them with the rounded coral patterns and hourglass figure on the volunteer. I also like the pallet used, light greys and whites with the highlight being the mauve knife thrower. It has a jazz influenced feel to it which I find quite soothing.


Exhibit B: Dali’s Metamorphosis of Narcissus. An example of Dali’s mind bending period, the use of parallel structure in the painting is inspired. On the left is a golden depiction of Narcissus kneeling in the pool, on the right is a much more decayed figure, which looks suspiciously like a finger grasping an egg. Contrasting with the left figure’s golden veneer is a grey one. Residing in the background is a crowd of nude figures, another recurring theme of Dali. As with the rest of Dali’s paintings, a surreal atmosphere pervades the proceedings.


Exhibit C: Kandinsky’s White II . A splash of colors is all over this with a variety of shapes as well. I can see triangles, circles, and straight lines, parallel lines, all of which make the display look insane. Its manic in tone but simultaneously subdued. Kudos to Kandinsky for adding detail like the bean shaped ellipsis on the lower triangle and grid patterns on the right of the painting.
This is the end of section 3 of this blog, stay tuned for more next week.
Over and out.

3 Artists.

In class this past week, we discussed artists from varying time periods, namely from the 1860s to the early 1910s. This covers a wide array of movements from impressionism to cubism with a slew of contributions made by varying artists.

Our first subject: Luncheon at the Boating Party by Pierre Renoir, is a great example of impressionist art. This beautiful painting is an exemplar of Impressionist art with its warm color pallet and quick brush strokes, especially on the attendees. Another plus are the subjects of the party, they all have an everyman quality, they are neither exceptionally beautiful nor are they slovenly. They have a very earthly quality to them which is just wonderful.

Exhibit two: “Boating” by Manet. Like other impressionist art, its painted with very quck and fast brush strokes with little detail made on the subjects in the boat. I love the utilization of lighter colors with the blue in the water as well as voguish shade of the woman’s dress. Finally, like the garden party painting, the subjects look like real people.

Last but not least, we have “The Old Guitarist” by Pablo Picasso. Painted in Picasso’s blue period, the subject is consistent with others in the blue period, vagrants and other poor individuals. What I love about the painting is the haggard appearance of the guitarist; his wrinkles, the receding hairline as well as the awkward way he plays his guitar, adds to the depressing atmosphere of the piece. And lets not forget the blue hues, which give the character piece a gloomy mood, as if his position in life could not be any lower, his world is just as gloomy as he is.

That’s my piece. Over and out!