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

Artwork of the month: The Attributes of the Arts and the Rewards which are Accorded them.

Throughout my life there have been a few paintings that heavily influenced me to become an artist.  As an artist I partially blame my career choice on this painting.

Jean-baptiste Simeon Chardin

French,1699-1779

"The Attributes of the Arts and the Rewards which are Accorded them."

1766, oil on canvas.

I saw "The Attributes of the Arts and the Rewards which are Accorded them" for the first time while on a grade-school field trip to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. It changed me forever (as powerful paintings do). I already wanted to be an artist, and after seeing this painting I was convinced that being an artist was the most important work a man could aspire to do.

This painting is currently on display at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Go check it out and enjoy its truth and lies.

"You can be sure that most of the high positions in the country would be empty if one were admitted only after an examination as severe as the one we painters must pass."

-Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin