Artwork oft the month: Recently acquired.

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts just purchased this new painting.  It is a beautiful landscape, and definitely worthy of your time o go down and take a moment to contemplate its simplicity.  As it is a very small painting, it is easy to walk past if your not paying attention.  

Richard Parks Bonington

British, 1801-1828

"Rouen Cathedral, sunrise"

1825, oil on millboard


I have not had the time needed to study it to speak clearly...
...It could pass for contemporary work completed today.

Artwork of the Month: Wedding art

After a night of drinking and dancing Athena told me that she can relate to this oil painting now.  We have looked at this painting in passing, not really thinking very much about it until now.  It is on view at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.  

Douglas Volk

American, 1856-1935

"After the Reception"

1887, oil on canvas

She looks completely wiped out. A wedding, drinking, dancing, eating and talking will do that to you.  Athena and I were both completely wiped out the day after our wedding. We had a blast!

A new Chuck Close to look at.

I remember the first time I saw this painting.  I was in grade school, probably 10 or 11 years old and it was the coolest thing I had ever seen.  After 20+ years of looking at the same painting the wonder wore off.

Chuck Close

American, born 1940

"Frank"

1969, acrylic on canvas

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts recently purchased this screen print by Close.  It is awesome, go see it.

"James"

2004, color screen print

Edition 45 out of 80

Now with the newer work by Close I can look back at his painting of Frank and see it with an idea of his development as an artist.  You can see both of these paintings on display at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Artork of the month: Joan.

This sculpture is amazing.  The first time I saw it at the museum I was slightly fooled for a second (okay, I allowed myself to be fooled, it was fun).  this work portrays reality so well that her feet are dirty just as if she has simply walked barefoot across the floor.  I love it, and I am pleased to say it is at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts as part of its permanent collection.

John DeAndrea

American, born 1941

"Joan"

1987, Polyester resin, pigments, synthetic (?) hair

Go take a look at this for yourself...

...it is a graceful illusion. 

Artwork of the month: Married Life.

Married life is a big deal to me, being a new husband and wanting my marriage to be successful I tend to look at couples in happy marriages hat have lasted a very long time and wonder.  Everyone has a different view on what makes a marriage a success.  For me, I want to be able to always improve the quality of our lives as a couple, and to simply maintain our happiness.  That said I want to show you a work of art that I see as comedy, and brilliance.

The painting "Married Life" by Roger de la Fresnaye, depicts a man reading the paper smoking a pipe with his naked wife around his arm.  That being how the artist views marriage is funny, seriously funny, and I am sure that artist laughed at it.  If you can't see the humor in that I can not help you.  Oddly, this painting has had a profound impact on my compositional choices over the last 10 years.  I truly admire the composition, the placement and bend of the objects, and the line work on the figures.  it is a strong cubist work, and I'll bet the artist was proud of his little joke.  "Married Life" is hanging out at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts on permanent display.  I have been lucky enough to be able to spend a great amount of time studying this work.  

Roger de la Fresnaye

French, 1885-1925

"Married Life"

1912, oil on canvas

I am a husband...

...it is the best decision I have ever made.

Progress has been made on my new painting.

I was able to get some serious work done this evening.  I started painting at 5:30 PM, and finished working around 3:30 AM.  Quite a productive night.  I expect my formal work on this piece to be complete by the end of March.  Albeit, there is a huge amount of work to do simply to establish the overall composition.

Minneapolis #? "Penitent Magdelene"

All of these new color-forms will have to be strengthened once they dry.

Here is my Subject-matter, an oil painting I have been observing for almost a year at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

"Penitent Magdelene"

Bartolome Esteban Mutillo    c. 1650-1665

Thanks for reading...

...More to come soon.

Artwork of the month: A recently restored masterwork.

This sculpture is truly amazing now that it has been restored to its assumed original orientation.  We used to joke about how it looked as if he was swimming, or diving into water rather than praying.  Turns out the jokes had merit.

Francesco Mochi

Italian, 1580-1654

"St. Paul the Hermit"

, marble

Before restoration.

Andrea Bergondi

Italian, 1722-1789

"St. Paul the Hermit"

1772, marble

Recently restored, repositioned and reattributed.

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts purchased "St. Paul The Hermit" in the year I was born, 1973. It was believed to be the work of Italian sculptor Francesco Mochi.

Eike Schmidt, curator of sculpture and design at the Minneapolis Institute of arts, discovered that the sculpture was by Andrea Bergondi in 1775.  The Midwest Art Conservation Center, restored the sculpture, removing cement that was added in the 1960s to create a solid base, cleaned it, and reorientated the sculpture so St. Paul would appear to be praying instead of diving.  

St. Paul is the first hermit saint of the Christian church, he retreated to Egypt to live a solitary life dedicated to the worship of God.

Regardless of its story, this sculpture is on exhibit on the third floor of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and is worthy of your time.  Go check it out, spend some time with this sculpture.  

New painting in progress

I have been working on this painting for nearly a year now.  I started with an academic study of the subject-matter, the artist that painted it, and then realistic details.  Over the last 6 months I have worked on the abstraction of the original composition with a heavy bias on the content of the narrative.  

I am fairly far along, but the real work starts now as I begin to truly work the composition.

Minneapolis #? "Penitent Magdelene"

This painting at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts is my source material.  I have admired this work of art for many years.  I am very happy to present the subject-matter as I see it.

"Penitent Magdelene"

Bartolome Esteban Mutillo    c. 1650-1665

I hope to have this painting completed by the end of March or the beginning of April.

Thanks for reading along...

...I will post more about this painting as I work on it.

Artwork of the month: Maxfield Parrish and Skyrim.

I have been playing the video game Skyrim a lot lately.  And just to make a connection between fantasy paintings and this fantasy game I give you Maxfield Parrish.

First off Skyrim rocks.  An HD video game with 5,000+ hours of digital escapism hunting dragons. Seriously Skyrim just rocks and dragons have the best treasure.

Skyrim was released at midnight 11-11-11.  I know that because I was one of the geeks at GameStop in uptown Minneapolis for the midnight release with the rest of the entertainment hungry flock.

As to Maxfield Parrish, I have never really liked his subject matter, albeit his technical skill at rendering realistic and painterly works is nearly unmatched in art history. I love the way his work appears as if it were a silver gelatin print. This painting is at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts where I spend way too much time, but not nearly as much as i have spent playing Skyrim lately.

Maxfield Parrish

American, 1870-1966

"Dream Castle in the Sky"

1908, oil on canvas

"I don't know what people find or like in me, I'm hopelessly commonplace! Current appreciation of my work is a bit highbrow, I've always considered myself a popular artist."

-Maxfield Parrish

Artwork of the month: Amedeo Modigliani.

I was at the spyhouse coffee shop this morning where they are exhibiting a local artist, J.M. Culver.  She has a few portraits that I really enjoyed.  Culver is a fine artist, as I have watched her compositions for the last 3 years.  Her portrait work is by far my favorite to date.  

J. M. Culver

American

"Ash III"

I really liked them and they reminded me of Modigliani's paintings.  Here is one of my favorites at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Amedeo Modigliani

Italian, 1884-1920

"Little Servant Girl"

1916, oil on canvas

I look forward to seeing what Culver comes up with next...
...I hope they are large canvas.

Artwork of the month: St. Benedict of Palermo.

One of the recent acquisitions at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, a sculpture of St. Benedict if Palermo, is so stunning you are truly missing out if you don't go see it right now.

Attributed to José Montes de Oca

Spanish, 1675-1750

"St. Benedict of Palerno"

1734, polychrome and gilt wood, glass

St. Benedict was the first christian saint of african origin to be canonized.  And as with all saints it took a while for it to be official with the church, this guy more so because of who he was.

He was born in sicily, 1524, to parents that were freed slaves from ethiopia.  Yep, he was a black man and the church wasn't progressive enough at the time to canonize a black man.  He was beatified by Pope Benedict XIV in 1743 then canonized in 1807 by Pope Pius VII.

St. Benedict was know for his extraordinary religious devotion, patience and understanding when confronted with racial prejudice, and acts as a truly devoted man of god.

"St. Benedict of Palermo" was purchased by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in 2010.

Artwork of the month: Georges Braque.

I have been working on abstractions of the Minneapolis landscape; simple line drawings that I will eventually turn into oil paintings.  As I think about my forms, I envision color combinations that will express the content of each composition.  Lately I have been reminded of Georges Braque's landscape "The Viaduct at L'Estaque" and how bright and unstable his use of color feels.

This is my favorite landscape at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.  I have always paused in front of it to just look without thinking.  The use of yellow as a central color is unnatural, and oddly waking while allowing it to retain the laid-back mood of a landscape. Braque created harmony with discord like a soothing out of tune instrument.

The nonnaturalistic colors of the Fauves, and the simple geometric forms he reduced the subject-matter to are pointedly runners up to Cézanne's work of bold all encompassing spaces.  Albeit, Braque's choices are those of a master as this is a master oil painting.

Georges Braque

French, 1882-1963

"The Viaduct at L'Estaque"

1907, oil on canvas

"Art is made to disturb, science reassures."

-Georges Braque

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Artwork of the month: 5 favorite nudes at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

I admire these works for their beauty, their composition, and their important historical value.  They are also nude, which i believe we all like.  Anyway, enjoy them.


My 5 favorite Nudes at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Francois Rude

French, 1784-1855

"Hebe and the Eagle of Jupiter"

1853-1855, bronze

Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse

French, 1824-1887

"Undine"

1912, bronze

Louis Corinth

German, 1858-1925

"Nude Girl"

1886, oil on canvas

 

 

Aguste Rodin
French, 1840-1917
"The bronze age"
cast 1906, bronze 

Guess?




"I have no problem with nudity. I can look at myself. I like walking around nude. It doesn't bother me. I see all the people walking around nude; it doesn't bother me."
-Ursula Andress

Artwork of the month: Subodh Gupta

At the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, on the second floor, there is a new "Modern" art gallery.  It is a great exhibit, and a fantastic set of works.  This one is my favorite.  The medium- bronze, made to look like gold and spray painted cardboard is cool.  The context of the work is a philosophy that I can connect with, and after looking over Gupta's portfolio I can see where his ideas are coming from.

Subodh Gupta

Indian, born 1964

"Dubai to Calcutta #9"

2006, bronze with gold patina and aluminum, in parts.


This work is quite a tease...
...I will have to create something very cool now.

Artwork of the month: American landscape.

There was an exhibit of paintings owned by local Minneapolis collectors at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts early in 2009.  For the most part I found the exhibit okay, but the idea of celebrating the wealthy was as distasteful as citrus after brushing your teeth.  Out of that revelry for the rich and their possessions I came to admire a brilliant example of expressionistic realism.

Last week I was surprised to find out the MIA purchased the painting in the exhibit that I felt was the best in show.  And here I believed that I would never see it again.

Theodore Robinson

American, 1852-1896

"Farm among hills, Giverny"

1887

Oil on canvas

"I must beware of the photo, get what I can of it and then go."

-Theodore Robinson


oh, the exhibit was titled "nobel dreams & simple pleasures..."
...wow what jerks.

Artwork of the month: Immaculate Madonna.

Every now and then a work of art truly inspires me, or I just like it so I talk about it.  

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts has been purchasing a great deal of quality works as of late.  One of the best acquisitions lately has been the "Immaculate Madonna" by Giacomo Antonio Ponsonelli.  It was purchased by Eike Schmidt, the curator of the decorative arts and sculpture.  Here is a link to a pretty cool video about the work.

This sculpture was recently acquired by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts at a bargain price, but that is another story.  I love this sculpture, it is truly a masterwork.  Now I can spend as much time as I want observing it, and someday if I feel inclined to do so, create my interpretation of it for today.

Giacomo Antonio Ponsonelli

Italian, 1654-1735

"Immaculate Madonna"

1710, marble


Go to the MIA and take a look at this...
...it is worth the time.

Artwork of the month: Berthe Morisot.

I have paused periodically in front of this paining for the last 6 years.  I don't find it to be a masterwork, nor do I see it as a great stride within an ism.  As far as the subject matter of this work goes, hello boring.  I do however truly admire the painterly brushstrokes, their precision in intent, and the way dark under light under dark is executed.  

You can see this painting at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.  

Berthe Morisot

French, 1841-1895

"the Artist's daughter, Julie, with her Nanny"

1884, oil on canvas

"Real painters understand with a brush in their hand."
-Berthe Morisot

Artwork of the month: The Death of Germanicus.

There are parts of human history that I obsess one simply because they reveal a portion of truth about the nature of mankind, as to what we are capable of.  I like to paint these important events in history, repurpose them and link them compositionally to a historical work of art about the same event.  Nicolas poussin did the same thing here.  

Poussin took the history of Germanicus's murder and used as a compositional model a sarcophagus from Rome.  Brilliant conceptual, compositional oil painting; Albeit there are so few that can and will connect the dots to read this painting as it was intended to be read by Poussin.  

This oil painting is a Masterwork example of compositional oil painting.  Go spend some time reading its imagery at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Nicolas Poussin

French, 1594-1655

"The death of Germanicus"

1627, oil on canvas

Germanicus was murdered out of envy and fear...

...fear always has and always will destroy mankind's future.

Artwork of the month: Jean Léon Gérôme.

I would like to take a look at two works in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts permanent collection.  Jean Leon Gerome was an amazing oil painter.  His sense of composition and his application of oil paint was profoundly admired and copied.  I do not want to talk much about this because my knowledge of this artist is limited to these two works, and both of which I chose to ignore for a decade.  

Jean Léon Gérôme

French, 1824-1904

"The carpet merchant"

1887, oil on canvas

"Young Greeks in the Mosque"

1865, oil on panel

Theses are surprisingly small works...
...rendering the real is easier when done smaller.