Archive for December, 2007
The Thinker, or Le Penseur in French, is a well-known bronze and marble sculpture that was created by noted artist, Auguste Rodin. It stands in the Rodin Museum in Paris and depicts a man in deep meditation and somehow struggling from an internal conflict. It has the man posed in a crouching position with the right hand to the chin and with the right elbow placed on the left knee. It depicts a person in deep contemplation as if surveying something below it. The Thinker has been used at times to represent Philosophy.
This marvelous piece of sculpture was originally named as The Poet and was only to become a part of a commission by the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris for the creation of a monumental door depicting different scenes that is based on Dante’s literary masterpiece, The Divine Comedy. The Thinker was initially intended to depict Dante himself placed on top of the monumental door looking at the scene below. Rodin has planned the monumental portal to have statues that represented one of the main characters in Dante’s book.
Instead of the actual sculpture finding itself on the monumental door, Rodin has created a miniature of the statue that sits atop of the gates portrayed in the portal. The Thinker was sculpted in the tradition of style used at the time of Michelangelo, hence its nude appearance. Rodin made the first small plaster version of the statue around 1880.
The first large scale bronze cast of The Thinker was already finished sometime in 1902 but was not officially presented to the public until two years later. It first became the property of the city of Paris and was first displayed in front of the Pantheon sometime in 1906, thanks to the work of the artist’s many admirers who made it possible. It was later on removed and placed in Hotel Biron sometime in 1922, which was later on transformed and became the Rodin Museum.
Through the years, The Thinker has traveled through a number of countries. The original cast made its way to Wadsworth Athanaeum in Hartford Connecticut and was displayed there from March to April of 2006. It was then put on display at the Sakip Sabanci Museum in Istanbul, Turkey until September of 2006. It has since made its way back to Paris. Currently, there have been over twenty casts of The Thinker that can be found in various museums all over the world. Some of these are copies of the original work in different scales.
December 19th, 2007
The La Sagrada Familia is a breathtaking Roman Catholic basilica that is located in Barcelona, Spain. Known as the “Church of the Holy Family” in English, this church is considered unique in the sense that it is still under construction even today. Construction on the said building began sometime in 1882 and is still ongoing today pending other areas in the overall design that hasn’t yet been started.Funding for the construction of the church is not supported by any government or even from official church sources. It has largely been funded by generous patrons and through private donations. Some funds are also taken from tickets bought by tourists who want to take a peek inside this magnificent basilica. In its current state, the said building is expected to be completed at around 2026. The intricateness of the design has largely been attributed to the ongoing history of completing the basilica.
Its detailed and highly intricate design can be credited to its primary architect, Antoni Gaudi. The architect spent over 40 years working on the project and spent the last 15 years of his life trying to complete it. After Gaudi’s death in 1926, work was resumed with Domenech Sugranyes on the reins until construction was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War in 1935. Architects such as Francesc Quintana, Isidre Puig Boada, Lluis Bonet y Gari and Francesc Cardoner have carried on the work in constructing the Sagrada Familia since the 1940’s. Jordi Bonet y Armengol is the current director that handles the construction of the basilica.
The church’s most striking feature is its spiandle shaped towers. It has a total of 18 tall towers that represents the twelve apostles in ascending order of height. Another four stands for the Four Evangelists, Matthew Mark Luke and John. Another tower stands for the Virgin Mary while the tallest of them all represents Jesus Christ. The towers, aside from their height are also identified by other traditional symbols that stand for the Biblical characters. The smaller towers range from 90 to 120 meters in height while the tallest stands at 170 meters. Eight of the 18 towers have since been completed with the others still on different phases of construction. Construction is currently focused on building the nave as well as the southern façade known as the Glory Facade. The Nativity Facade have already been completed in the time of Gaudi while the Passion Facade was completed in 1987.
Although the Sagrada Familia is still far from finished, it is already quite a spectacle to behold. It gives quite a sight even from afar and even in its incomplete glory. The interior of the church is also quite an interesting sight to check out with the different geometrical details and a mix of different art styles that are evidently instilled on the design during the different phases of construction work since the early1880’s.
December 12th, 2007
Claude Oscar Monet was one of the founders of the French Impressionist movement. He was also considered as one of its most prolific and most consistent practitioner, the role model for practicing the art philosophy of expressing individual perceptions of nature and trying to replicate it into the canvas in an effort to capture realism. In fact, the term Impressionism was taken from one of Monet works, “Impression, Sunrise”, the term from which the movement came to be known.
Monet was born on November 14, 1840 in Paris, France. He was the second son of Claude Adolphe and Louise Justine Monet. His father ran a marine supply store when they relocated in Le Havre while Monet’s mother was known as a singer. Monet was able to spend most of his youth in Le Havre where he developed his artistic inclination drawing caricatures of the locals. His amusing depictions of the local folk often led him to trouble in and out of school.
Despite the troubles that Monet went into because of his caricatures, his mother continued encouraging him to develop his natural talent. He became interested later on with painting when he met Eugene Boudin, who taught Monet how to paint scenes in nature. Monet’s mother died by the time he was 16 years old. He went on to live with his widowed and childless aunt, Marie Jeanne Lecadre.
Monet went on to study at the prestigious Ecole des Beaux Arts. But still having a natural rebellious attitude, he went to go against the school’s traditional views of art and painting. He eventually left and studied at Academie Suisse.
Monet started to go against the traditional approach to art when he visited The Louvre in Paris. While other artists were trying to copy the styles of the old masters, Monet started painting what he saw in the streets of Paris. Monet stayed in the city for several years where he came to meet other like minded painters who became his fellow impressionists later on.
Monet joined the military that went to Algeria for two years in June of 1861. His seven year engagement was shortened when he contracted typhoid and was asked to return home with the intervention of his aunt and studied art instead. But he continued to develop portraying scenes from nature into canvas instead of using the traditional method.
It was in 1872 when he painted “Impression, Sunrise” which depicted a Le Havre landscape. It was displayed at the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874. The term “Impressionism” was coined by an art critic Louis Leroy to identify this painting style and was meant to be derogatory. However, the impressionists came to embrace the term for their movement and thus became known as such, thanks to Monet’s work. Monet went on paint several other noted paintings such as his Water Lilies series of painting. He also went on to become one of the forces behind the acceptance of the Impressionist movement in fine art. Monet died in December 5, 1926 at the ripe old age of 86.
December 5th, 2007