Botticelli..Classical painter.

One of my influential classical painters is Sandro Botticelli. Even though I consider myself an expressionist painter, there are so many paintings out there that just catch my attention, either for the style of the painting or the meaning of the painting. I wrote a Art History paper while in college about Sandro Botticelli "The Calumny of Apelles" painting. Everything about this painting was interesting to me, the style, the meaning, and formation of this painting. Art History Paper below is copyrighted. Enjoy the reading. It's very interesting!

Lucy M. Inserra

  

                                                       Art History II

Sandro Botticelli

“Calumny of Apelles”

Sandro Botticelli is an Italian Renaissance painter who mastered the unique style of Naturalism and Classical by using dimensions of lines that curved, lined to show motion within a painting. Botticelli essential style in bringing a balance of images between realism and idealism was influenced in Rome, Italy where he became influenced by the Classical and Naturalism of paintings of other masters, Dante’s Poetry, and worked for the rich and famous family of Medici.  Botticelli’s “The Calumny of Apelles” 1495, was a painting copied by a Greek Artist Apelles, who lived in the 4^th century B.C., described by a writer named Lucian. The original painting of   “Calumny of Apelles” is now a lost painting that can be only described by those who had seen it. The painting came from an important Florentine family named Segni. The painting was eventually transferred to Florence from the Pitti Palace in 1773.  An ancient painting that Botticelli painted with such detail, and contrast by the simple description of the words by Lucian, is now held at Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi. 

The Painting, “Calumny of Appelles” is 62 X 91 cm painting done in tempera on panel. This allegory of the painting tells a story with the composition of the figures with a lavish architectural backdrop. The painting is read from right to left, starting with King Midas with two women beside him, ignorance and suspicion. In front of Midas is malice, who is pointing or reaching for Midas’s crown, and at the same time has a hold of Calumny’s arm with the torch. Calumny is shown to be dragging her half nude male victim by the hair, while her assistants envy and fraud fix her hair.  Followed behind Calumny, to the left of the painting is penitence and further to the left is truth.  The story beginning with King Midas, with ignorance and suspicion, the middle of the painting with malice, Calumny, envy and fraud, and then followed by penitence and truth. In detail of the gestures and the composition of the painting brings a story to life.

In more depth, the meaning could be interpreted in many ways from King Midas and his ignorance of the thrown, and his ruthlessness of his daughter, Calumny, or Apelles influence to the government, or the King during his time that shows malice, envy, and fraud in the kingdom and would only be ended with penitence and truth. The allegory of the painting could be political or part of a morality setting. If morality, the descriptions of the painting’s characters seem to be close to the seven deadly sins of pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed, and sloth. Botticelli’s detail on the painting brings interest and intrigue of the story behind the painting of   “Calumny of Apelles”.

The facts of the painting, was from a Greek myth of King Midas, who was a greedy and foolish man, who wanted to be rich so, that everything he touched turned into gold. King Midas wish came true, so that everything he touched turned to gold, even food and drink. Midas’s daughter Calumny was full of hatred.  Calumny had two female servants named envy and fraud to help Calumny with her ornaments, robes, and hair style.  Calumny herself was led by malice, envy and fraud like her father King Midas. Calumny seems to bring forth a man that has done her wrong, to King Midas. While the half naked man is praying for rescue, Calumny shows little remorse or guilt of punishment for the young man that will have to face his king.  While an older woman, with dark color robe and hood is looking away from the scene of Calumny shows penitence will soon come, by looking back at a beautiful, nude woman that resembles truth will some day reveal all things. 

The Classical aspect of the painting shows signs of bare feet on all characters meaning that they are standing on holy ground. The columns in the back ground are engraved with such detail of soldiers or priests that seem to be witnessing this scene of Calumny.  The three oval openings of the columns, view a vast empty field with a horizon that seems to never end. The

contrast of the windows being open to field is a meaning of choice within the characters of the painting. A choice to the truth rather to fall under greed and malice of life is the Naturalism of the painting.

Botticelli’s influence in Classical and Naturalism he studied in Rome brings more of a realism and idealism to his painting. To name a few famous paintings such as, “Birth of Venus”, “Portrait of Youth”, and “Mars and Venus” reveal more of idealism verses realism aspects than the traditional Classical paintings. By using some Classical and Naturalism, Botticelli uses draped clothing, marble floor, and the arched columns that are recognized in most Classical art.

The colors used in “Calumny of Apelles” are of deep red, in which line the floor of the palace, and also matches King Midas’s robe. In the center of the painting is envy, she is draped with a lighter red color. The color red used in this painting might resemble the blood shed under the feet of the characters, and the lighter color of red on envy resembles passion, lust, or love.  The dark colors are black, presented only on malice and penitence that seem to be equally balanced in the painting. Malice being closer to the King and penitence closer to the truth could only resemble that the color black represents death, evil, and the unjust. The surroundings is a mixer of gold and brown, in which gold resembles the lust for gold to King Midas, and the browns are of the natural world.

This allegory of Botticelli’s painting of “Calumny of Apelles” is brilliantly done with a simple description from a writer, Lucian who a viewed the original painting by Apelles.  Botticelli brings forth such detail in a story-telling landscape of characters, that is a shame not to  view the lost painting of Apelles to compare its originality. Although, Botticelli version is magnificent in presenting the work of a 4^th century Greek artist Apelles, that the painting itself is worth talking about. 

Work Cited

Basta, Chiara. Botticelli. Art Classics. Ed. Julie Di Filippo. Rizzoli Libri Illustrati.

RCS Libri Spa, Milano. 2004

Salvini, Roberto, All the Paintings of Botticelli. Translated from the Italian, John Grillenzoni. Part 3 and 4 (1485-1510). Hawthorn Books, Inc. Publishers.

New York. 1965.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calumny_of_Apelles_%28Botticelli%29

 

Drawing the human form…

 

I recently have been taking a figure drawing class to practice the human form. Been out of practice for about two years, but it is always good to keep your skills up. It’s so simple to study the human form if you study how it works and then applying your drawing skills to the sketches made during your drawing sessions. I recommend that everyone should take a figure drawing class of a naked human form because it’s challenging and you can learn a lot from drawing from 3-D prospective to a 2-D design.  

It’s better to draw a nude model because you see the muscles and forms of the human body and how it works. If that’s not possible, get someone to pose for you with their clothes on once you have been in practice for a while with a nude model. The results will still be the same because you have already studied and drawn what’s underneath the clothing.

The human form in drawing is made up of lines and circles. The lines are like a shape of a capital I, from shoulders-straight across, waist-straight down the middle (same length as the shoulders and hips), and the hips-straight line matching the shoulders. The top line-shoulders and bottom line-hips will move opposite of each other when the human form is movement, position, or posed in a certain way. Look at the Michelangelo’s David and how he stands is a good example of this. Look at the shoulders and hips.

The circles are made of measurements of head, arms, waist, legs, feet, and back side in equal circles on each ligament. The head was the hardest for me. You have to keep reminding yourself that the head is divided into two equal halves of a circle that also includes lines within the circle. The eyes match the top of ears and the length of nose matches the bottom of the ears. The spaces in between the eyes are the same shape of one eye in between both eyes. The space between nose and chin is the same distance from the mouth. (Look at image).

I found out recently that it’s much easier to sketch out a nude female model rather a nude male model, because the females have more shape and curves. For the nude male, it’s no shape but there are muscles and a lot more straight lines than the nude female. On the male nude, the sketches are more focused on shading, lighting, and muscle contour.

When sketching a body form keep in mind the position, the tension in the body, and the lighting. I sometimes would do the same exact position the model is doing to get that feeling of tension in my body. Where the pressure points are, where is the location of my shoulders vs. hips and waist. If you don’t have availability of a nude model, I would use Michelangelo’s David as a good study guide. Good luck! Keep sketching! 

http://www.realcolorwheel.com/human.htm

https://www.google.com/search?q=drawing+the+human+form&client=firefox-a&hs=2Np&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=bnptUbuuEqWB8AG1t4HYBQ&ved=0CDAQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=629

 

Basquiat..graffiti artist

Jean-Michel Basquiat (December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988)

Basquiat was a graffiti artist in New York City in the late 1970’s and become known as a Neo-expressionist and Primitivist painter by the 1980’s. His paintings were a combination of drawings and paintings of abstraction and figuration.  Basquiat art vision was always the opposite of issues such as: poverty vs. wealth, integration vs. segregation, and inner self vs. outer self-experiences.  Along with, his paintings showing attack of power structures or systems of racism. Basquiat’s expressions of his paintings are views of society imbalances with drawing of lines, use of color, and imagery that is disfigured or abstract figuration. Basquiat paintings are a great example of expression through lines and color, leaving the viewer wondering of the message within the painting. Is there a mystery within these familiar images? What’s he really telling us through these paintings?  These simple lines create images of almost stick figures appearance; almost hollow appearance with wordings combined with disturbing figures or images of familiar things we see around the world. My answer to his paintings being a mystery is yes.

When viewing his art work, the viewer is constantly traveling its eye all around the painting to find clues in what is he saying to us. Noticing that all his figures are colored solid black with white outline or his figures are outlined with black lines, this is expression of Black male importance. Just like calligraphy, Basquiat used words throughout his paintings, along with his signature image of a crown to symbolize the hero within the paintings.  His paintings are also layered as a collage with other drawings, writings of his, and imagery.  He works very fast when creating a painting, almost like he has already placed these images in his mind and then puts them out on a canvas or surface. No doubt that his fastness came from being a graffiti artist in lower Manhattan, where spray painting buildings, etc. had to be done quickly to avoid being caught in the act.

Basquiat young life was full of disappointments, accidents, and sadness, from the death of his younger brother to him living on the streets at age 15. Basquiat was a creative child and wanted to learn all he could, from reading books, knowing and speaking different languages along with his artistic ability to create art work due to his mother Matilde who introduced him to art and became an art influence on him by taking him to museums and enrolling him as a junior member of the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Basquiat was an artist whose light shined so bright at a very young age and then burnt out that left  a trail of his magnificent mind on paper or canvas. There is a lot of Basquiat on YouTube documentaries and about his art work and I must say, it’s very interesting to view and listen to them. Basquiat always wanted to be famous hence the graffiti art work that he created, taking this space and being noticed.

Basquiat was a friend of Andy Warhol and worked on several painting with Andy in the 1980’s, working together and becoming friends. What I found interesting is that Basquiat was known to dress in an Armani suit while he painted. Just like Basquiat to paint with a thousand dollar suit while he painted. What would people think?? I found it hilarious and a statement within society as viewing this artist as a poor artist, always a counter diction with Basquiat.

After the death of his friend Andy Warhol of February 22, 1987, Basquiat became very isolated and his heroin addiction and depression became more severe. Jean Michael Basquiat died on August 12, 1988 of a heroin overdose in his art studio in New York’s NoHo district; he was only 27 years old, a very sad ending to a artist that was a genius of graffiti and Neo-expressionist painter of our generation. 

Hitler and the Louvre…My Favorite Art History Story.

I have always enjoyed my art history classes in college because you always learn something new that you never knew before.  I have also enjoyed world history classes too because world history and art history work together on the same timeline throughout history.

During my world history classes, I spent a lot of time researching World War II and Hitler due to the assignments given during class or personal research I conducted on my own.  Adolf Hitler as you know was a dictator of Germany during World War II (1939-1945) and was responsible for the deaths of millions of Jews and other nationalities that came to be known as the holocaust.  This tyrant dictator was a cruel and evil man, and was not only a dictator; he was also a painter/artist.

Hitler, as a painter was not appreciated for his paintings. His skills were not impressive to the art world. Hitler wanted to become a famous painter and tried to get his paintings sold or put into museums but, he was never taken seriously for his art work. In 1937, Hitler enforced the Nazi Reich to collect paintings during the invasions of Europe to be displayed in Germany to the public for the German people to view the “Perverse Jewish spirit” before invading other cities throughout Germany and Austria. These collections of paintings, sculpture, print, etc... Were called “Degenerate” Exhibits. One of my favorite Artists Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was one of them; expressionist painter, along with James Ensor, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso and Vincent van Gogh to name a few. Even though, some of the art work was collected for Hitler’s personal viewing, he continued to have these exhibits viewed as degenerate pieces of art to the people of Germany.

Now, to get on with my favorite art history story, Hitler wanted to invade France for many reasons but, one of them was to raid the Louvre in Paris, France for the art work that was displayed there. Before the invasion of France, the curator of the Louvre heard that Hitler had an infatuation with seizing art work to be destroyed or displayed of degenerate art work. Therefore, the curator asked the people of Paris to come to the Louvre and remove all art works from the museum and to hide them in places that would be kept in secret so, that Hitler would  not take France’s art history from them or removing the prized possessions of the Louvre. Many famous paintings were displayed at the Louvre; Mona Lisa by da Vinci, and the Raft of the Medusa by Gericault, just to name a few.  Many famous artists had paintings or art work at the Louvre including; Raphael, Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Michael Angelo and Renoir. So, you can imagine Hitler’s desperate wanting or destroying these wonderful pieces of art work for his own amusement or to satisfy his power hungriness.  The people of France came to the Louvre and removed all the art from the Louvre on the eve of Hitler’s invasion of Paris. The people were told by the curator to not tell him where they would hide these artifacts because he would die first before telling the Nazi Regime where the art work was hidden.  

As the story goes, or as I was told in one of my college courses, once Hitler entered Paris, the Louvre was one of the first places he wanted to invade. Hitler liked everything to be documented or filmed during WWII including the killings of millions of Jews, the bombings, and the medical experiments that were performed on the prisoners.  So, when they arrived at the Louvre, it was filmed and documented.  I have never seen the film of it but, the story is documented. Upon arrival, Hitler opened the doors of the Louvre, to only be disappointed because it was EMPTY!! All of its art work was GONE!! I researched and found that he was very upset when he saw this and that he even killed one or two of his men for not knowing this would happen and even stopped the filming of his findings of the Louvre that he found was empty. 

Here’s the good part!!! Years after the war, the curator asked the people that came and hide the art work to bring them back to its home at the Louvre. Astonishing, to the curator and the people of Paris, every piece of art work that was taken out of the Louvre was RETURNED-undamaged!!! Not one was sold, damaged, or kept hidden; all of it was returned. Amazing!  A great triumph of patriotism in the country of France and to show the world that art is important to keep for the generations to come and visit these wonderful pieces of art that is part of our history. We thank you!

I hope you enjoyed this story. It’s one of my favorites!!

Painting… What’s it all about?

  “Cave painting of aurochs”

Painting by definition in Wikipedia is paint/pigment and color applied on canvas, glass, paper, wood, etc. with a paint brush, sponges, paint knives, or airbrushes.  Painting is an art medium that is used by an artist to express themselves through paint and color. Also, composition, line and abstraction along with the seven elements of art are used in paintings. Paintings can be naturalistic, landscape, representational, imaginary, or abstract.

Paintings and drawings are the oldest known art form used visually. Ceramics and sculpture, I think would be considered oldest art forms used in physical form or 3- Dimensions due to ancient bowls, cups, weapons, idols, etc. made in ancient times.  However, on 2-Dimension plane, paintings/drawings would be the oldest art work made on any given surface, such as stone or tapestry in ancient times. What years are we talking about? Some 32,000 years ago a painting was found in a cave in France called, “Cave painting of aurochs” known to be the oldest painting. It shows red ochre and black pigment engraved on a rock wall in the forms of rhinos, horses, and buffalos. However, later discoveries found rock fragments in caves or rock-shelters in Western Australia of paintings to be 40,000 years old.

Why I mention painting being the oldest medium used in art is because we need to know the history of art to know where we are going with it. Throughout history, art is used to represent what the artists viewed at that time in history. Just like the cave painting, it showed us what life was like for those people back then. I wonder what people would view us as 20 years from now. Art/paintings have changed so much since then and paintings have become more intriguing and advanced just as our generation has. I heard that more paintings are done on computer with graphic design or vector photo shop, etc… It’s because our generation is all about technology, yet I still feel we need to not let go of our old tradition ways of painting/drawings techniques.

As artists, we grow with the times and view things differently while using our medium to represent our time, space, and importance. What does the artist today want to say to the world? Is it all about us personally or do we want to say something to the people of the future world on how we lived in our time?

Why Picasso? Why cubism?

Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907)

Pablo Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) is most recognized artist in the 20^th century. Picasso was a painter, sculptor, ceramicist, and stage designer.  In almost all my college classes in art school, Picasso was mentioned in every medium.  I almost got sick of hearing his name over and over.  Picasso did this and did that.  His was a Guru on everything he touched!! Picasso was involved in many art movements such as, Rose Period, Blue Period, African-influenced Period, Surrealism and Cubism to mention a few. I respect him as an artist because I am an artist myself. However, there are plenty of other famous and non-famous artists that are out there that influenced a lot of art movements.  Why the big thing with Picasso? Was it that everything he touched turned into an art movement? Was it just because of his popularity? I think it’s all of the above.

I personally don’t like his vain nature about his art. I remember watching a video on him and how he was so sure of himself as an artist. In knowing this, he knew that everything he created would be noticed and valued. I read that Picasso is most expensive art work that anyone can own, being from his drawings to his sculpture work.  I have to say, I do like his work but not the artist himself.  My favorite movements of his are the African-Influenced  with the painting of “Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907), Museum of Modern Art, New York “ Surrealism “Guernica, 1937, Museo Reina Sofia” and Cubism (Synthetic Cubism) “Three Musicians (1921), Museum of Modern Art”.  All three of these paintings are very similar in their style and someone would say that it is cubism. I have always liked Surrealism and cubism, especially when they are used together.  The difference between surrealism and Cubism: Surrealism is usually associated with dreams or unconscious images put into a real life scenery as for Cubism is more of a 3-Dimensional perspective put onto a 2-dimensional surface. For instance,  Marcel Duchamp “Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 “ (1912) shows a nude descending a staircase from all sides of the nude on a two-dimensional view and the painting shows so much movement  that it is captivating.

So, why cubism? Well, I have to say that once you have created art in a 3-dimensional way as in sculpture or ceramics it does influence in how you create art on a 2-dimensional surface as in drawings or paintings. It gives the artist as view from all sides and expands your vision or creativity in a good way. I noticed the more I work on 3-dimensions that my paintings and drawings are more improved. I also noticed, that the more I paint, my drawings are much better. This astonishes me because I don’t why that is, both are 2-dimensions. Although, I can see why Picasso was so famous for his paintings because he saw things in a 3-dimension way and used his vision on his art to represent that.

Therefore, Picasso will always be famous for everything he did in the art world. We can only be so lucky to be such big influences in the 21^st century. Maybe someday, we can create a own art movement that will influence many artists around the world.