Posts filed under 'Artists'
Georges-Pierre Seurat was a noted French painter that is also considered as the founder of Neo-impressionism in the 19th Century. He was born on December 2, 1859 to a well-off family in Paris, France. His father, Antoine Chrysostom Seurat was a known legal official in La Vilette. Seurat’s mother, Ernestine Faivre came from a family of prosperous middle class Parisians.
Early influences for Georges was his uncle, an amateur painter from his mother side, who introduced the young Seurat. In 1875, Georges started attending a drawing class that was taught by Justin Lequien who was a sculptor. In 1878 to 1879, he was admitted to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. After serving a year of military service, he returned to Paris where he devoted his time in trying to master the art of black and white drawing.
In 1883, Seurat was able to finish his very first painting but was rejected by the Paris Salon, a big and popular art exhibition in Paris. This rejection led Seurat to instead ally with the other independent artists in Paris. It was in 1884 that Seurat, along with other independent artists, formed the Societe des Artistes Independants. It was with the group that Seurat begin to share his ideas on a new painting technique called pointillism, which became the art movement that he founded called Neo-impressionism.
In 1884, Seurat began working on his most well-known work, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La GrandeGrande, which took about two years to finish. The painting showed members of the different social classes participating in various activities at the park. The painting was done using the pointillism technique that Seurat started. This new technique allowed viewers of the painting to blend the different colors optically through the positioning of the multi-colored dots instead of blending the color using pre-blended pigment on canvas.
Seurat died unexpectedly on March 29, 1891 in Paris. The cause of his death was uncertain but was later on attributed to a form of meningitis, pneumonia or diphtheria.
April 23rd, 2008
Paul Gauguin was a famous Post-Impressionist painter whose bold experimentation with color helped develop the Synthetist style in modern art. His painting style also led to the development of Primitivism and a return to the pastoral. He is also known for his woodcuts and wood engravings from which he became one of its influential proponents.Paul Gauguin was born on June 7, 1848 in Paris, France. His father, Clovis Gauguin, was a journalist while his mother, Aline Maria Chazal, was the a half-Peruvian daughter of a socialist leader and feminist. It was unfortunate that Paul’s father died while on a voyage to Peru when he was three years old, leaving his mother to raise him along with Paul’s sister. The fractured family lived in Lima, Peru for four years before returning to France.
When Paul and his family returned to France when he was seven, they stayed with his grandfather where he soon learned French and did very well on his studies. His interest in art started when he was young. Free time he spends painting and visiting galleries to purchase work by emerging artists. This led him to get in touch with a network of other artists which led him to rent his own studio and exhibit his paintings in Impressionist exhibitions in 1881 and 1882. After trying out work as a stockbroker in Copenhagen in 1884, he decided to devote his time in painting and returned to Paris in 1885.
Although trying to develop his craft in painting, Paul started to suffer from the poor subsistence that his profession brought with him. Painting wasn’t providing much of what he needed just to survive. This is what probably driven him to bouts of depression. But yet, his love for art prevailed and he continued on painting in Paris until 1891.
Throughout his stay in France, Paul Gauguin became frustrated for not being recognized for his work and still in the state of financial disrepair. He resolved to sail into the tropics in order to escape the conventionalities and supposed unnatural state of European civilization. This led him to briefly stay in Martinique and become a day laborer during the construction of the Panama Canal.
He later on moved to Tahiti where he did a number of masterpieces influenced by the culture and style he experienced while staying in the tropics. The style that he employed also influenced the Primitivism art movement in the late 19th century. The style is characterized by exaggerated body proportions, geometric designs and stark contrasts from which Gauguin was the first artist to make use of such styles and achieve broad public success. His works fascinated and intrigued a number of the European elite who were just discovering the art coming from foreign cultures in Micronesia, Africa and the tropics. Paul returned to France only once after that and lived out the rest of his life in the Marquesas Islands. Paul Gauguin died in 1903 and was buried in the Marquesas Islands.
March 18th, 2008
Alexander Calder is a well known American sculptor and artist who was credited to inventing the mobile or the kinetic sculpture. It is a sculpture that takes advantage of the principle of equilibrium to achieve balance. A mobile usually consists of a number of rods from which weighted objects or other rods hang. The different objects hanging from the rods balance each other making them remain more or less horizontal. The display of rods and objects usually hang from only one string giving them freedom to rotate about.Alexander Calder was born on July 22, 1898 in Lawnton, Pennsylvania. He came from a family of artists with his father, Alexander Stirling Calder, already a well-known sculptor of many public installations in Philadelphia. Calder’s mother, Nanette Lederer Calder, was a professional portrait painter who has studied in Paris. Calder also had an older sister, Margaret “Peggy” Calder, who was born in 1896.
Calder made his first sculpture at the age of four. This and other early works showed the talent of this budding sculptor at a very young age. Calder’s parents encouraged their children’s creativity in art but somehow discouraged them to lead a career as artists due to the difficulties and uncertainties that usually come with having such a profession. And because of this, Calder decided to study mechanical engineering after graduating from high school in1915 at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. He received his degree in the school in 1919. Thereafter, Calder went on to work on a variety of engineering jobs and even worked on a passenger ship as a fireman in the boiler room. Eventually, Calder decided to pursue a career as an artist.
Calder then moved to New York to study art at the Art Students’ League. In 1926, he relocated to Paris where he took the job creating toys. During his stay in Paris, Calder started making out his Cirque Calder which is a miniature circus fashioned out of wire, string, wood, cloth and other discarded objects, small enough to fit into suitcases. His miniature circus became popular with the avant-garde crowd in Paris.
Calder returned to the US in 1927 where he designed several kinetic wooden toys for children. In 1928, he had his first solo exhibit at the Weyhe Gallery in New York. During this time, Calder was already fascinated by wire sculptures and kinetic art. It was in 1931 that Calder made his popular mobiles. He also went to create self-supporting, static abstract sculptures that he called as “stabiles” to distinguish them from his mobiles. He went on to do several other artworks using other media. Calder died on November 11, 1976.
March 12th, 2008
Andy Warhol is considered as one of the central figures in the popularity of the movement known as Pop art. An American artist who began his career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol later on became famous as a painter, avant-garde filmmaker and a famous public figure known in various social circles- from distinguished intellectuals to Hollywood celebrities.Andy Warhol was born Andy Warhola in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on August 6, 1928. His parents, Andrew and Julia Warhola were working class immigrants that came from Hungary. Warhol’s father worked as a coal miner caring for a family that also included Warhol’s two older brothers, John and Paul. When he was at third grade, Warhol was afflicted by St. Vitus Dance, a condition that affects the nervous system causing involuntary movements said to be brought about by complications of scarlet fever. This later on led to Warhol developing blotchiness in the pigmentation of his skin. And because Warhol was frequently bed-ridden as a child he became somewhat of a hypochondriac as well as a social outcast among school mates. This led him to spend his time drawing that helped form and develop his skill in the arts.
Later on, Warhol showed his artistic talent and studied commercial art at the Carnegie Institute of Technology School of Fine Arts. After graduating, he moved to New York City where he began a successful career in magazine doing illustrations for advertisements. He was primarily known in the 50’s for his ink drawings of shoes used for advertisements. His career later on led Warhol to do illustrations for the music industry doing album covers as well as promotional materials.
It was during the 60’s that Warhol started to create paintings of famous American products as well as paintings of Hollywood celebrities. It was also during this tie that he began gathering a wide circle of artists, writers, musicians and underground celebrities. Warhol aimed to mass produce art and sparked a revolution that became controversial as well as popular. Warhol’s subject in art usually revolves around American Pop culture. He painted dollar bills, popular brand name products as well as celebrities. His subjects are usually recognizable and have mass appeal. He became a popular figure in the art world as well as the various social circles up until his death in February 22, 1987.
February 6th, 2008
Donatello was a famous Italian artist and sculptor during the early Renaissance Period. Born as Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi in Florence sometime on 1386, Donatello was the son of Niccolo di Betto Bardi, a Florentine wool comber. Donatello first received his artistic training in a goldsmith’s workshop, as was the custom for artists during that time. He also worked briefly from the studio of another noted Italian artist, Lorenzo Ghiberti.While working at Ghiberti’s studio, Donatello was able to create one of his earliest works, a marble statue of David. The early sculpture showed the influence of Ghiberti and the International Gothic style. Donatello was able to develop his own style later on in his life.
Sometime during 1404, Donatello went to Rome with another noted artist, Filippo Brunelleschi, while undergoing studies as well as some excavations here and there. It was their stay in Rome that later on made a great impact in the development of Italian art in the 15th Century. It was this time that Donatello was first influenced by the type of art style that started the Renaissance Period in Italy during that time.
It was in 1423 that Donatello was able to master the art of sculpting. Sometime in 1430, Donatello sculpted a bronze statue of David which became the first large scale, free standing nude statue created during the Renaissance. It became Donatello’s most famous work. This was followed by a number of other commissions where Donatello displayed his unique artistic style that was influenced by classical art.
In 1443, Donatello went to Padua to do a commission to construct a bronze statue of the deceased Erasmo da Narmi, a well known condottiere. With the statue, Donatello was able to conceive an equestrian monument that would have a powerful influence on the other sculptors during succeeding years when it comes to creating equestrian monuments. Donatello was an active sculptor that did not lack of commissions to do outside of Florence, even after his style was eclipsed by upcoming Florentine art styles. He remained a productive artist until his death in 1466 at the ripe old age of eighty.
January 16th, 2008
Henri Emile Benoit Matisse was a noted French artist known as one of the best artists in the 20th Century. He was born on December 31, 1869 in Le Cateau-Cambresis, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France. He was the first son to parents who run a successful seed business. He was schooled to become a lawyer. In 1887, he went to Paris to study law and even became a court administrator after gaining his qualification. Matisse only discovered painting while on a period of recovery after an attack of appendicitis in 1889. During this time, his mother provided him with art supplied to spend his time with while recovering.
Upon discovering art and painting, Matisse decided to become an artist and leave the practice of law which disappointed his father. In 1891, he began to study art at the Academie Julian. He started by painting still lifes and landscapes using the traditional style from which he became quite successful. By 1896, he was able to exhibit five of his own paintings at the Salon Nationale des Beaux-Arts where two of them were eventually bought by the state.
In 1897, Matisse was introduced to Impressionism by fellow painter John Peter Russell. This led Matisse to change his style of painting completely. As he was influenced by the works of post-Impressionists such as Van Gogh, Gauguin and Paul Cezanne, Matisse began to incorporate color as a crucial element of his later works. Matisse became fond of having bright and expressive colors into his works which became more pronounced sometime in 1905. This eventually led to paintings using wild and often dissonant colors in order to express emotions rather than following the natural colors of the subjects. This became the start for Fauvism, which came from the word Fauves (wild beasts) from which the artists became known as. Matisse was considered as one of the leaders of the said movement.
Matisse created many of his finest works from 1906 to 1917, when he was an active participant in the great gathering of artists in Montparnasse. In 1917, Matisse relocated to a suburb in Nice. This was followed by a distinct softening in his approach to his artwork. He began to show in his paintings a sort of return to the traditional style. In 1941, Matisse was diagnosed with cancer that put him in a wheelchair after surgery. Here, Matisse began to create cut paper collages. In 1947, he was able to publish a book entitled Jazz, a book which contained a collection of colorful paper cut collages accompanied with personal comments and thoughts. Matisse died of a heart attack in November 3, 1954 at the ripe old age of 83.
January 2nd, 2008
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
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dali, better known all over the world as Salvador Dali, was a noted Spanish surrealist painter. He was known for his bizarrely striking surrealist paintings and other works. Dali was born on May 11, 1904 in the town of Figueres in Catalonia, Spain. His father, Salvador Dali y Cusi, was a lawyer and who was also a strict disciplinarian. It was Dali’s mother, Filipa Domenech Ferres who encouraged Dali to pursue his artistic inclinations.
Dali attended drawing school when he was young and discovered modern painting while on a summer vacation in Cadaques in 1916. He was first influenced to modern art by Ramon Pichot, a local artist who was able to visit Paris regularly. It led him to study at the School of Fine Arts in the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid in 1922. Even then, Dali was already getting some attention due to his eccentricity. He went around the academy wearing clothes reminiscent of late 19th Century English fashion, complete with long hair and sideburns.
But it was mainly his paintings at the academy, where Dali began to experiment with Cubism that drew some attention from his fellow students. His works then were considered as interesting since there were no cubist artists in Madrid during that time. Dali also experimented with the Dada style which became a major influence in his later works.
In 1926, Dali was expelled from the Academy just shortly before his final exams for arrogantly stating that no one from the school faculty can competently examine him. After being expelled, Dali went to visit Paris where he was able to meet up with another noted painter, Pablo Picasso who became Dali’s idol.
Dali was known to devour learning from different art styles and make them as part of his artworks. His artworks varied from the classical to the avant-garde and sometimes a mix of different artistic influences in one artwork. It was during this time that his art exhibitions in Barcelona were beginning to catch attention from admirers and critics both. It was also during the late 1920’s that Dali began to grow his trademark flamboyant moustache, said to be an influence of 17th Century Spanish painter, Diego Velasquez.
Aside from painting, Dali also collaborated with other artists in other types of media such as film and photography. In 1929, Dali collaborated with film director Luis Bunuel to make the short film, Un Chien Andalou (An Andalusian Dog). It was also during this time that Dali had important exhibitions of his surrealist works. In 1931, Dali painted what was to become one of his most famous works, The Persistence of Memory. This bizarre surrealist painting is known for their depiction of several melting clocks amidst a barren landscape, which made the images all the more eerie.
November 26th, 2007
Francois Auguste Rene Rodin was a notable French artist who became more famous for his wonderful sculptures. He was considered as one of the few sculptors who were able to gain wide recognition outside the visual arts world. Rodin was also considered as pioneer of modern sculpture. His works clashed with the rules set out by figure sculpture tradition.
Rodin was born on November 12, 1840 in Paris, France. He was the second child to Jean Baptiste and Marie Cheffer Rodin, a working class family. Rodin’s father worked as a clerk for the French police department. Rodin was largely self-educated during his younger years and taught himself to draw at age ten. He was schooled in Petite Ecole when he was between 14 and 17, where he dabbled in drawing and painting.
Later on, Rodin wanted to enter into the Grand Ecole in 1857 by submitting a clay model of a friend in the hopes of gaining entrance to the school. Unfortunately, he was denied entry along with two other applications in other schools. Rodin’s failure to gain entrance to such schools were said to be due to the school’s Neoclassical tastes while Rodin was schooled in light 18th Century sculptures. With these setbacks, Rodin began to earn a living by being a craftsman making decorative objects and architectural ornaments.
Rodin also joined a Catholic order for a short period of time after the death of his sister Maria. Deciding to turn away from art, Rodin was encouraged by a fellow priest in the order who recognized his talent to continue on. Rodin left the order and worked as a decorator while taking classes for animal sculpture with Antoine-Louis Barye.
In 1864, Rodin offered his first sculpture for exhibit and was able to enter the studio of Albert Ernest Carrier-Belleuse who was then a mass producer of objects d’art. Rodin became a chief assistant to Carrier-Belleuse until 1870. During the Franco-Prussian War, Rodin experienced some struggles since work became scarce. Rodin went to Belgium and there he stayed for 6 years as a craftsman.
After acquiring enough money, Rodin went on a trip to Italy where he was enticed by the works of Michelangelo and Donatello. The experience had a lasting effect on the later works of Rodin. The 1880’s saw Rodin again joining up with Carrier-Belleuse who already became the art director of a porcelain factory. He gave Rodin a part time job as a designer. His vase and table ornament designs in the factory made the factory earn some recognition across Europe. As Rodin became known for his work at the porcelain factory, he was also able to capture the eye of some of the important people in Paris which led him to be awarded a number of art commissions.
Through these meetings, Rodin was given the commission to create a portal for a museum. There Rodin gave his energies to create his elaborate Gates of Hell. It took about four decades of Rodin’s time and yet the portal remained unfinished, primarily due to the fact that the museum it was made for was never built. But this led to Rodin being able to create some of his most famous sculptures. The many figures that comprise the elaborate Gates of Hell became independent sculptures in their own right. Most notable of Rodin’s work was The Thinker and The Kiss.
October 24th, 2007
Edgar Degas is a well known French artist who was regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism. Aside form his paintings, Degas was also known for his sculptures, prints as well as drawings. He was especially identified with depicting dancers as his subjects which cover over half of his works. He has also done quite a number of female nudes as well as a number of works depicting happenings on the racecourse.
Edgar Degas was born on July 19, 1834 in Paris France. He was the eldest of the five children born to Celestine Musson De Gas and a wealthy banker father, Augustin De Gas. Degas found his love for art early in life. At the age of eighteen, he had already taken painting seriously by turning a room in his home as an artist’s studio. From there, he started learning from the masters by making copies of masterpieces at the Louvre. As his father wanted him to take Law in college, he enrolled at the Faculty of Law in the University of Paris in 1853. But because his love for the law was non-existent, his lack of interest in the subject made him do poorly on his subjects.
Degas eventually concentrated more on drawing and painting and by 1855, received admission into the famous Ecole des Beaux-Arts, where he flourished and began to excel in the arts. In 1856, he went to Italy where he would remain for three years to further study and learn from the early artists of the Renaissance by drawing and making copies of well known masterpieces. Degas fervently studied the arts and learned the various techniques of high, academic as well as classical art. From then on he began his career as an artist.
During his artistic career, public reception for Degas’ works ranged from admiration and praise and sometimes contempt. His conventional works was regarded as very promising by some critics who were then more rigid in defining art in the classical style. But when Degas began to join forces with the Impressionists creating artworks that rejected the rigid rules and elitism of the classical style, the general public not open to experimentalism of the Impressionist began to put the artist’s works in low regard.
But although some of Degas’ works were controversial during their time, some critics admired some of them for their draftsmanship. Eventually more and more of the art loving public began to see the beauty of the Impressionist paintings and started to see some of Degas’ works in a more positive light. By the time he reached the end of his career as an artist, Degas was, by then, regarded as an important artist of his time. His contributions to the Impressionist movement were numerous as he was later on regarded as one of its early founders. Edgar Degas died at the age of 83 on September 27, 1917.
September 5th, 2007
Next Posts
Previous Posts