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: 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: Grant Wood.

This is one of the paintings on display at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts that I simply enjoy.  It is humorous and although lewd, the painting retains its importance historically.  Do you see what I see?

Grant Wood

American, 1892-1942

"The Birthplace of Herbert Hoover, West Branch Iowa"

1931, oil on masonite

"I had to go to France to appreciate Iowa."

-Grant Wood