The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Arts is a unique building in terms of design that is located in Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. This building has been quite well known for its controversial concrete facade. The building was built as a museum that was named after Herbet F. Johnson, head of S. C. Johnson of Racine, Wisconsin who funded the construction of the said building.
The museum was designed by noted architect I. M. Pei. Its design is notable in which is top two floors cantilever over the open air sculpture garden of the museum. The architect so designed the museum because of the challenges that the site presented. The design was also followed as such so that the building would not be blocking the view of nearby Cayuga Lake. The design of the building also offers visitors a more panoramic view of the lake from its fifth floor. The overall design of the building was to create a dramatic statement and at the same time do it in a way so as not to block the scenic view in the area.
The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Arts has ten floors and covers a total floor area of 61,000 square feet. It houses a varied collection of artifacts with the exhibit spaces located in the nine-level tower of the museum. There are also additional galleries and function room located below ground of this unique museum. Windows in the building for horizontal bands fixed upon the upper floors of the museum. These windows provide a panoramic view of the surroundings to complement the art exhibits inside.
A notable design aspect of the museum is its spiral stairway that streaks down like a strand of DNA on a polished oak column. The team of architects that worked with I. M. Pei aimed to create a building with interiors providing people with a sense of continuous space and openness. Skylights in the lobby were included in the design to provide some wonderful openness to the building interiors.
April 16th, 2008
The Palace of Versailles is an impressive piece of architecture that is located in Versailles, France. The palace started out as a hunting chateau that Louie the XIII had built in 1624. The first chateau was designed by Philibert Le Roy and was built of stone and red brick with a slate roof. It was later on that the Palace of Versailles went through an extensive reconstruction under Louis’ successor, Louie XIV.
It was Louie XIV that took great interest on the royal chateau in Versailles. He wanted to make it the center where he can rule France, so he can distance himself from the greater population of Paris. Over the succeeding decades, he was able to expand it into one of the largest palaces in the world. The reconstruction began in 1669 where it was designed by Louis Le Vau together with the landscape architect Andre Le Notre. It was on May of 1682 that Louie XIV formally established the royal court on the palace.
The Palace of Versailles has many interesting features. Its grand scale is typical of the various buildings of Baroque architecture during its time. The grandness of the palace includes many of its lavishly decorated rooms that is big enough to house 6,000 members of the royal court. Not only that, the palace is also known for its more than 250 acres of gardens formed out of swamps and whole forests. The French style formal gardens contained landscaped tree-lined paths, lakes, manicured flowerbeds as well as over 1,400 fountains.
A royal compound in the palace, called the Grande Apartements is lavishly designed with murals depicting Greek deities, paintings, velvet draperies, gilded bronze and tinted marble. Another spectacular feature of the palace is its Hall of Mirrors. The hall is a 235 foot long drawing and ballroom that is lined with 17 huge mirrors lined up on one side. During the reign of Louis XIV, mirrors were considered as incredibly expensive fixtures that only the richest of the rich can afford. And with huge mirrors installed in the palace, the royal courtiers can admire their own fabulous costumes as they danced.
The mirrors were also specially installed so as to reflect the frescoes of the room’s ceiling. The other side of the room contains a row of windows that open up to show the vast gardens and provide the king and his court a view of the sunset. It was in the palace that Louie XIV married Marie Antoinette in 1770 at the Chapel Royal situated inside the palace compound. Due to its grandness, the cost of building the huge and lavish palace has continued on to be debated upon. Some estimates put the costs at around the USD 2 billion in today’s monetary value although many consider it as an undervalued estimate. This alone can have one imagine on the lavishness and grandeur of this impressive palace in Versailles.
April 9th, 2008
The Casa Mila is a unique and attractive apartment building located at 92, Passeig de Gracia in the Eixample district of the city of Barcelona in Spain. This captivating architectural masterpiece was the work of well-known Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi. The Casa Mila has been considered among the works of the revered architect to be considered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Casa Mila is also popularly known as the La Pedrera or “the Quarry” mainly because of the building’s cliff-like walls. The Casa Mila stands on an asymmetrical lot and took about six years to construct. The building was built in the years 1906 to 1912. This unique building is known for its surrealistic look and design, typical of the crazy imaginations of its architect, Antonio Gaudi. It was designed and built by Gaudi for a wealthy married couple Rosario Segimon and Pere Mila.
There have been various theories as to what inspired Gaudi to design the building as such. Some say that the famous architect was inspired to instill the character of ocean waves into the building characteristic of its rippled stone facade and curved balconies. Others say that Gaudi wanted it to look like a mountain in the midst of other man made buildings in the area. No matter what inspired Gaudi to design the Casa Mila, it truly became quite an arresting presence.
The Casa Mila is considered as one of Gaudi’s most identifiable and unique masterpieces. People seem quite in a difficulty trying to describe how it looks. Some say that it resembles the honeycombed structure of a beehive. Some say, upon seeing the unique building, that it looks like a sand castle in terms of its texture that is on the verge of collapse. The fanciful aura that this Gaudi building evokes wasn’t as accepted then as it is today. When the building was nearing completion sometime in 1911, it received rather a less enthusiastic response. Fast forward into current times, the Casa Mila has become quite a masterpiece in terms of design and form. It has also become one of Barcelona’s must-see attractions, a building that seem to spring out of fantasy.
April 2nd, 2008
The Statue of David is perhaps one of the most famous sculptures in the world. It is a Renaissance masterpiece sculpted by Micheangelo from 1501 to 1504. It is considered as one of the greatest works of the famous Renaissance artist along with his other sculpture, the Pieta.
The Statue of David can be found in the city of Florence in Italy. The original statue is now located at the Accademia Gallery where it is being protected from damage. A replica of the statue now stands in its former place at the entrance of the Palazzo Vecchio in 1910. The replica statue still attracts many visitors at Florence. There is also another replica of the famous statue that is located at the Piazza della Signora which also attracts throngs of spectators passing by.
The original statue of David was commissioned by the guild of wool merchants in the city, or Arte della Lana. This guild was responsible for the maintenance and the decoration of the Cathedral of Florence. The guild was tasked to oversee the creation of 12 large sculptures for cathedral. Michelangelo was given the task of finishing the statue of David after previous artists commissioned to form one from a single block of marble. The statue was first started on at around 1464 and Michelangelo was awarded the commission sometime in the 1500’s. By this time, the previous artists were able to form the legs, feet and the figure from the huge block of statue. Michelangelo started working on it in 1501 and was able to finish it in a span of three years.
Michelangelo’s David was created following the style of the artistic discipline called disegno which tries to mimic divine creation. Its positioning is based on the contrapposto style of human pose depicted as a human form standing with most of its weight on one foot giving the figure a more dynamic appearance. With this style, Michelangelo was able to create a statue that became widely known fas a symbol of strength and youthful human beauty.
March 26th, 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
Good drawings do not merely depend on skill and talent alone. The use of the right drawing materials also play a big part on how your drawings eventually come out. Here is a list of some of the basic as well as optional drawing materials that you should have with you before you begin sketching.Pencil
The pencil is the most important tool that you will be using in drawing. But as with all tools, there are many pencils that you will have to choose from. Artist pencils are usually graded or classed into the type of lead that they are made of. A “B” pencil refers to a soft lead one while “H” pencils refer to those that use hard lead. B pencils tend to easily smudge while H pencils are less likely to but are instead more prone to making indents on paper. These pencils are also numbered usually from one to five, from the softest to the hardest type of lead used. For general drawing, most people prefer using the HB or #2 pencil which is the standard as well as the most common type.
Paper
Along with the pencils that you will use, a good type of paper would also be needed. What most people try to make use and probably the best option would be regular printer paper. It is one of the most affordable and common drawing material that you can use. But if you plan to take your drawings a bit more seriously, then you might want to invest on sketch books or pads. The paper used in these sketch books and pads are thicker and may be able to handle frequent erasures without getting ruined. Sketch pads come in various sizes, with 9″x12″ and 10″x15″ being the most common ones. Choose one that would work best for you.
Eraser
As you start drawing, you might experience some drawing mistakes that you would want to correct. This is where the eraser would come in handy. Instead of getting impatient and tearing up a drawing with every mistake, you can use an eraser to remove a mistaken line or two and correct them accordingly.
Ruler
A ruler will also come in handy especially if you are doing some technical drawings on the side. A ruler would especially be useful if you are drawing objects with straight edges such as buildings.
March 5th, 2008
Bauhaus essentially is an influential style in modern design that was developed during the early 1900’s. Also known widely as the International Style in modern design, Bauhaus is characterized by a marriage between form and function. Establishing harmony between the function and the design of an object is the primary aim of this popular school of design.
Bauhaus started from a school in Germany where its name was derived from. The school was known as a place where students were taught to combine handcraft with fine arts. The Bauhaus school was founded by Walter Gropius, a German architect who developed the new approach to creating designs that meet technical industrial standards both in their aesthetic and functional aspects. This new approach to design was able to have a profound influence on Modernist architecture and the subsequent developments in art and in its other facets such as interior design, industrial design as well as typography.
The foundation of the Bauhaus style came during the time of political and cultural upheaval in Germany. The fall of Germany during World War I brought also the fall of censorship that led to radical experimentation which included the field of design. The Bauhaus was greatly influenced by the Modernism movement which had its origins come from as way back as the 1880’s. The movement had already made is presence felt even in a conservative Germany.
The Bauhaus style is associated with design innovations during its time characterized by radically simplified forms, the merging of form and functionality and the unity of technology and art. This approach to design seems to grow out of trying to adapt to a modern world with the many technological innovations that come with it. Bauhaus aimed to establish a new method to design that tries to include the aspects of the modern world on how a certain object is to be shaped and formed.
The Bauhaus style not only brought its approach to designing buildings and houses. Because it started as a school that tried to merge craftsmen with artists, the Bauhaus style came to envelop other aspects of design. It found its way to furniture and graphic design. And with its influence came the emergence of what became the basis for modern Western architecture and design.
February 27th, 2008
Art Nouveau is an international style used in art, architecture and design that became popular in the beginning of the 20th Century. The style is characterized by its flowing and curvilinear designs that incorporate floral and other plant-inspired accents. Its name was said to have been derived from the name of a shop in Paris that exhibited art pieces that followed this approach in design and style.Art Nouveau was said to have been introduced by Siegfried Bing, a German art dealer in Paris. He owned the shop called Maison de l’Art Nouveau, which showcased the artworks of artists with similar styles that later on became known as the Art Nouveau movement. It was in fact, from his shop that the name of the movement was derived from. The movement further spread out into other countries aside from France during the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s.
The Art Nouveau style is characterized by its dynamic and flowing curved whiplash lines. The style also features the use of hyperbolas and parabolas. The designs used can be seen as forms that seem to spring to life and transform into having their plant-derived features. In art, the movement was followed by notable artists like Aubrey Beardsley, Alphonse Mucha, Edward Burne-Jones, and Gustav Klimt. The movement can be associated by the styles of the Pre- Raphaelites and the Symbolism movement. But unlike Symbolists, Art Nouveau has that distinct visual look. Its artists are also open to the use of new materials, machined surfaces and abstraction for the sake of pure design.
Art Nouveau is considered to be a total art style. This means that it does not just cover just one section of a design aspect but a hierarchy of them. Art Nouveau has covered other types of artistic design including architecture, interior design, decorative arts, and a range of visual arts.
February 20th, 2008
The Crystal Cathedral is one of the most impressive of the modern churches today. The Crystal Cathedral is a Protestant mega church that is located in Garden Grove, Orange County in California. It is recognizable by its all-glass structure, hence the name of the said church.
The main sanctuary building of the Crystal Cathedral was designed by renowned architect, Philip Johnson. This soaring and impressively designed cathedral features over 10,000 windows from top to bottom covered with tempered, silver colored glass. The glass is held in place by a lattice framework of white steel trusses. Inside, the interiors include statuaries, fountains and greenery. The Crystal Cathedral also covers an area that can accommodate over 3,000 people during worship services. There are also four bronze statues present that represent Bishop Fulton Sheen, Norman Vincent Peale, Billy Graham and Robert H. Schuller, the founder of the Crystal Cathedral.
One of the interesting structural features of the Crystal Cathedral included the breathtaking glass pane making up the whole church. Each of the glass panes are not bolted into the steel truss structure. Instead, they are glued to it using silicon based glue. This provides some cushioning effect on the glass panes and allows the whole building to withstand an earthquake of magnitude 8.0. The church has two 90-foot doors behind the pulpit that can be opened electronically to allow the morning sunlight and natural breezes to enhance worship services.
The cathedral also has a 185 foot long chancel area where a thousand singers and instrumentalist perform during worship services. The services can also be viewed via a giant indoor television screen as well as on another one outside located adjacent to the cathedral to accommodate “drive-in” worshippers. The Crystal Cathedral also stands beside an impressive 236 foot tall mirrored steeple that also houses a carillon and a prayer chapel. The mirror reflects sunlight and may provide different view at various times of the day, providing an added interesting feature to the already impressively looking mega church.
February 13th, 2008
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