2013年7月29日星期一

Outstanding Realist Painter in France: Jean Francois Millet

Jean-Francois Millet was well known for his realism paintings. His works were created to mainly describe the labor and life of peasants with a rich flavor of rural life.

Millet used an original look to observe the nature and was against the idea that noble paintings should reflect the upper class people. Sower depicted in the desolate cornfield, the sower sowing the seeds of hope. The birds were flying in the air and looking for food, seemingly contesting with the seeds, which showed a magnificent picture of the man and the nature.

Sower

Millet never painted scenes of the peasants revolt, perhaps this was due to the presence of religious sentiment in his good-matured humanity. But the image of ordinary people with callous hands and feet and coarse clothes in Miller painting was a kind of struggle of voluptuous and debauchery society, although this resistance was relatively mild. That is what Sower wishes to convey.

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2013年7月22日星期一

British Romantic Landscape Staffa Fingal S Cave

In 1830s, Britain was experiencing the industrial revolution. Thus Turner often added the industrial factors in his paintings and the machines triggering changes, which seemed ugly and indecent for other people. In 1831, when publishers launched to promote new Scott works, they insisted on inviting Turner to join and even said, "With Mr.Turner illustrations, I can guarantee the poem will be sold more than 8000 copies, otherwise even 3000 copies are hardly sold out." This year, the British novelist and poet Walter Scott had to compromise and once again invited Turner to his home, but Turner was painting on the west coast of romantic Isle of Staffa.

Through the description of turbine facing the surge of storm clouds ahead, Turner recreated the unique modern view of life. He not only portrayed the new invention at the stage of the steam, but also suggested his new invention having a sublime heroism. In the right bottom of the painting, J.M.W. Turner RA was signed. The use of a large number of white depicted the cloud and mist, making the Isle of Staffa and the island cave partly hidden and partly visible. The contrast of the Isle of Staffa and steam ship on the right side and the sun made the whole painting balanced and coordinated.


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2013年7月14日星期日

Learn Something New About Home Improvement

Today, latex can vary widely in quality by the type of resin used, and buyers should ask about it at their paint store. Acrylic is best, followed by vinyl acrylic, but all vinyl is not as good.
I must confess that I find latex much easier to work with today. It doesn’t require a wet edge, so the painter can stop mid wall and start later without seeing any line.  It dries fast, and best of all, wet paint can be cleaned with soap and water. But I have used it only for wall surfaces and ceilings.
For trim and doors, I use only alkyds or oil based paints because they are more durable when they dry. Clean up, though, can be bothersome, requiring mineral spirits. I’m embarrassed to admit that sometimes I just throw out the brush or roller rather than attempting to clean them.
Family room, this is a place where you and your loved ones gather to watch movies, play board games or simply hang out with each other. The art should be family-friendly and appeal to everyone - both young and old. Artisoo.com offer beautiful oil painting reproduction by Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh and Pierre August Renoir. While these are classics that usually appeal to most families, we also understand the need to liven up a room. Try some abstract oil painting reproduction, so that adults can ponder the meaning of it while children will enjoy the simplicity of the colors and shapes.


2013年7月11日星期四

Velázquez Early Works of Life Scene

Water seller is common image in the southern regions of Spain, also its theme characters in 16-17 century novels which describing tramps. The Waterseller of Seville by Velázquez is very close to the typical Spanish interior genre paintings, both of which are to perform bistro or kitchen indoor scene with prominent still life. This oil painting technique was from Caravaggio's naturalistic style and lighting effects.

This picture is structured basing on a vertical axis, on the right side, there is the water seller wearing robe and a large crock in front view; on the left side, there is a little boy holding a cup, and his face turning from the dark side to the bright side. The contact between the two figures is the two hands touching on the cup, which adds dynamic and sense of depth to the picture. Velázquez particularly emphasize on the water seller's face through the lines, facial expressions, wrinkles and neck skin folds, to highlight all the features of this face. He spent a lot of time painting the glass carefully, hence the reflection of the glass and the boy's dark dressed forms a strong contrast.

Velázquez uses warm colors in the painting as usual: brown background, two ocher yellow jars, as well as the brick-red robe which to outline the water seller's sturdy body, all successfully highlight the theme of the painting.


2013年7月9日星期二

Who was the Lady in this Portrait Oil Painting

There are known only three female portraits of which Krakow's Lady with an Ermine is arguably the most beautiful. It's also in the best shape after the 500-plus years that elapsed. Leonardo's masterpiece in The Czartoryskich Museum at 19 Sw. Jana street depicts a delightful teenage beauty, most probably Cecilia Gallerani who was the mistress of Milan's ruler Lodovico Sforza il Moro, the artist's patron. Most likely Leonardo da Vinci painted her in his early thirties, between 1482 and 1485 – i.e. some 20 years before the Paris Louvre's famed Mona Lisa – and for the first time he showed the sitter in the way that would soon become the standard. Art historians maintain it's the world's first modern-age portrait ever painted.

At the turn of the 20th century Polish art historians first suggested the "Lady" may be the missing portrait of Cecilia Gallerani. Bellincioni's poem, composed soon after the portrait was completed, and extant correspondence between Gallerani and Isabella d'Este helped scholars identify the picture as such, however, the sitter's identity continued to be a subject of debate until Gallerani's life dates were firmly established in 1992.




2013年7月8日星期一

The Main Subject of Claude Monet's Later Works

"Monet's early paintings can not be comparable to these incredible water scenery, which have kept spring on the canvases forever. The dreamlike water sometimes wear light blue and sometimes gold, reflecting the blue sky, lush pond shore and pastel water lilies. Quiet landscape and inner beauty make this work a music and a poetry." said a critic.

At first, the locals objected to this pond program because of the river argument. After several twists and turns, a Japanese-style bridge appeared above the pond, then the willows and flowers around the pond. Of course the paradise included the melody-water lilies, which accompanied Monet's for his last 27 years. In 1901, the government agreed to Monet's purchase of another land in south because of his local fame. But the devoted enthusiasm for painting made him reject the honor again and again. Since 1904, the Japanese-style bridge in the painting was gone, even the sky. There existed just pithy water lilies and pond corner with dark lake. And the public couldn't help applauding for the serial works when they met them in Paris.

Water Lilies is a series of several canvases of the pond by French Impressionist Claude Monet, who is the founder of Impressionism. During his last thirty years, the water garden, with a Japanese-style arched bridge , was the main subject of his oil paintings.


2013年7月5日星期五

The Beginning of Color Theories

Color theories create a logical structure for color. For example, if we have an assortment of fruits and vegetables, we can organize them by color and place them on a circle that shows the colors in relation to each other.

Joshua Reynolds (1723 to 1792) was a well known figure in the history of western painting, and the most famous classical painter in Britain and the founder and lifelong dean of the Royal College of Art. Meanwhile, he persistently insisted on the color theory of the Renaissance and actively practiced it. He made a lot of refinement and interpretation of Renaissance painting theory.


In the same period, another famous British classical painter Thomas Gainsborough (1727 to 1788) was an artist filled with the spirit of rebellion, who challenged traditional color theory by using his own works. In his "The Blue Boy" and "A Woman In Blue Portrait Of The Duchess Of Beaufort", blue and purple took the dominant position and cool colors were used in a large space.


Why We Said Leonardo Da Vinci Italian Renaissance Heroes

Leonardo Da Vinci was spending his whole life for scientific research and artistic practice, the "Mona Lisa" reflected the painter's observation of nature in a scientific thinking, which was the most prestigious portrait masterpiece in the history of western oil painting. In this painting, Mona Lisa looked very elegant and calm with a meaningful smile. The painter sought to demonstrate the richness of life and multifaceted personality psychology, and studied the smiles of facial muscles and psychological changes and reflections when relaxing from two aspects: anatomy and physiology. He depicted an ideal beauty in a specific character. The hands were portrayed delicate, rich and dynamic. Eyes, mouth and hands were ingeniously combined with soft shadows. The background was also treated properly with difference on the left and right perspective, making the whole picture more vivid.

There was less agreement among different people on the mysterious smile of Mona Lisa for 500 years. Harvard Medical School neurobiologist Margaret Livingstone explained in U.S.Science magazine, "The mysterious smile of Mona Lisa is less concerned with the painter's painting techniques, than it is related to the dislocation of the eyes. Her flickering smiles are resulting from our eyes movements combining with the reflection of light. If our attention were solely focused on her mouth, then we would never see her smile. Da Vinci made the use of vague outline in the mouth of Mona Lisa. This approach meant "evaporated like smoke" according to the original Italian literal meaning."


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2013年7月3日星期三

Modern and Contemporary Art Master Yue Minjun

Born in 1962 in Daqing City in Heilongjiang province, Yue Minjun had almost gone through all the experiences that Chinese children encountered at his time—cultural revolution, violence, political movements, etc. However, he was lucky at the same time. What he had met before provided a wide range of materials for his future art creation. In 1987, Yue Minjun and his other two classmates held "S Art Exhibition" in the Exhibition Hall of Hebei Province (current Hebei Museum). In the 1990s, he became the free artist of “drifting family” and gradually regarded painting as the ultimate goal of his whole life.

There was an obvious narrative ideal in his art works: indulgent imagination, self-intoxication, questioning realistic survival in a mocking tone, highlighting the nature of existence in an absurd way. His pictures expressed skepticism of many prevailing values, but there was no direct anger. He tried to convey sharp humor in a mocking and laughing way. Although these images were processed exaggeratingly and typically, they precisely highlighted his "vivid and absurd living condition". When we were immersed in a seemingly ridiculous picture scene and in a cynical, exaggerate, ironic and banter dialogues, we could feel the perverse human nature, survival paradox as well as the criticism and questioning attitude that creation subject from the dialogues showed on realistic cultures. Yue Minjun used an ironic and cynical humor directly demonstrated the spirit during a special period of China. His humor and comic techniques tried to turn meaningful things into interesting ones.


2013年7月2日星期二

Two Great Artists On Romanticism Painting

Romanticism is built on the basis of pursuit of liberty, equality, fraternity, and personal liberation with a strong focus on fantasy beauty, emotional communication and passionate disposition expression. Its subjects are mainly concerned with unique personalities, exotic ambience, life tragedy and unusual events. The romanticism pioneers are the French painter Shyleaco and French painter Delacroix who made the romanticism painting reached its peak.

Shyleaco (1781 to 1824) is a pioneer of the French romantic painting. Born in Lyon of France, Shyleaco came to study painting in Parisat the age of 15. Deeply influenced by the predecessors, he had created some romanticism works. Although his life was short, his lifetime was filled with passion, fantasy and pains, all of which were reflected in his works. He excelled at expressing peoples inner feelings in a realistic approach. All the subjects of his work were made from real life and had removed all nonessential things. Raft of Medusa was the most representative work of Shyleaco. It was based on the event of "Medusa" ocean-going vessels running against rocks, reflecting distressed seamen's great passion and desire to live at the moment of rescued boats after 13-day drift on a raft at sea.

Eugène Delacroix (1798 to 1863) was an important painter of the French Romantic painting. Born in a lawyer's family in Paris, he was enthusiastically fond of art and entered to Art Academy at the age of 18. During that time, he got acquainted with Shyleaco known as the pioneer of romanticism painting. As a consequence, his early works were much inspired by Shyleaco. His paintings were good at displaying the active scenes, bright color, bold and vigorous feelings. His major works are Dante and Virgil, massacre of Chia Island, freedom of leading the people. Delacroix was a great and influential painter in the history of western art and has made significant contribution to the development of romanticism painting.


Description on Baroque Style in Oil Painting

The term “baroque” allegedly came from the Portuguese word “baroco”, or the Spanish word “barreuco”, meaning random-shaped pearls. Later, this term was used to describe anything bizarre, exotic, and out of the mainstream. Quite naturally, from the very beginning, the term “baroque” had been treated with a negative sense and this trend lasted until the late 19th century, when the book the Renaissance and Baroque was published, which gave a comprehensive description of baroque style and made it a serious and independent artistic trend.

The baroque artists prefer to employ heavy color and their wildest imagination to create a romantic, exuberant and grandiose scene. Their focus shifts from the rationality to the freedom. 

Baroque that was primarily associated with the religious tensions within Western Christianity: division on Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. In response to the Protestant Reformation of the early sixteen century, the Roman Catholic Church had embarked in the 1550s on a program of renewal known as the Counter - Reformation. As part of the program, the Catholic Church used art of the magnificent display for the campaign. It was intended to be both doctrinally correct and visually and emotionally appealing so that it could influence the largest possible audience. But as the century progressed the style made inroads into the Protestant countries. Main representatives of this form of Baroque were Bernini and Rubens.