Blog #8

The Market for Impressionism Today

Monet's Garden at Giverny


What is it about Impressionist paintings that makes them so appealing? Here is a list of what are interpreted as qualities today but were in fact outrages when they first appeared in the 1870’s:

· Singular bright tonal range
· Blond light pervades with an atmosphere of gaiety, spring and golden evenings
· Outdoor life that is panoramic and charming
· Color is not pinned down in a rigid format
· The viewer escapes into the painting, it gives a feeling of place
· An interpretation of atmosphere in which trees can be violet and skies may be buttery
· Loose, rapid brushwork

These days an Impressionist painting by Monet can cost $28 million. This popularity of Impressionist works has resulted in an abundance of contemporary artists who produce the style. Buyers feel confident in buying such works. They are charmed by the play of shadow and light, lush colors and shimmering atmosphere.

This explains the popularity of (love him or hate him) Thomas Kinkade. The list of Impressionism features certainly applies to his work, too. He has received criticism for how he has commercialized his art. It’s described as pretentious and industrially-produced, corny and tasteless. He has a huge operation with hundreds of employees at assembly lines dabbing paint onto canvases that will sell for $1000 - $50,000. Take a look.

Thomas Kinkade

(one of many cottage paintings with glowing lights)

A description by his one of his followers (I think) but borders on the sarcastic:

“The Painter of Light,” Thomas Kinkade is famous for idealistic, light-infused images. One of America’s most collected living artists, Kinkade communicates his strong faith and values through a glowing, romantic style of soft lines, warm colors and inner glow. When Kinkade creates a painting, it is often reproduced in countless forms, including books, posters, figurines and gift items.

This stuff is so over the top in my opinion but it kind of brings to mind Fragonard's eyecatching, pretty colors in "The Swing". Another description I read is "chocolate box art" (cheap decoration)

Blog 7

Art is everywhere we look in our society. It ranges from downloading music to the great interest in arts and crafts and the increase in do-it-yourself projects with the downturn in the economy. There is so much to choose from when it comes to music, movies and books and the art in museums. Art can be a means or escape from every day burdens and the unpleasant things of life. It should be more than just amusing. It should engage and promote thoughtfulness and challenge people’s lives.

The creativity of art engages people. It helps focus community building on strengths and passions, rather than on deficits and negatives. In Raleigh, NC for example, a public art project highlights the work of local artists on the sides of Capital Area Transit (CAT) buses traveling through the city. One of the goals is to increase opportunities for Raleigh citizens to engage in the arts.

We shouldn’t get caught up in whatever powerful media corporations dish out and go with what’s popular at the moment. We do this by voting with what we will pay for and watch.

Take for example the new Pepsi logo that’s showing up all over; tops of taxis, subway stops, and billboards. Pepsi paid several million dollars for the design group behind it to write a 27 page document using comparisons with everything from the golden ratio, the Mona Lisa, the Parthenon, to the earth and its magnetic fields, and the solar system. So far, the reviews have not been favorable. It seems to be just a variation on the previous logo:

Blog 6

Poor Vision Leads to Great Art

While passing through the Lane Medical Library at Stanford, I noticed an exhibit on eye diseases and how it gave some of the great painters a different vision of their work. The exhibit is the work of Dr. Michael Marmor of the Dept. of Ophthalmology at Stanford. It features impressionist painters Degas (who had retinal disease) and Monet (who struggled with cataracts). The exhibit pointed out how dark and muddled later paintings of Monet’s famous lily pond reflect symptoms of cataracts. And Degas’ later paintings became so blurry it’s difficult to see the artist’s brushstrokes. Dr. Marmor notes that such artists as Monet, Degas, Rembrandt and Georgia O’Keefe all reached their heights of artistic vision as their ocular vision declined.

Rembrandt lacked stereoscopic vision. According to an article in Science news, an analysis of his self portraits reveals that his eyes tended to gaze away from each other and not focus on a single point. As a result, he lacked depth perception so this may have actually helped him render 3 dimensions onto flat surfaces. A person with normal vision is often instructed by the art teacher to close one eye in order to flatten what they see. You can see in his self protrait above how his right eye looks straight at the viewer, but the other eye looks off to the side.

Blog 5

Modern Baroque Interior Design

While Renaissance design appealed to the intelligence,Baroque style plays to emotions.

Note the wildly adorned churches and glitzy devotional art such as Baldacchino by Bernini in St. Peter’s. It’s dripping in gold, putti and tassels.

Furniture in the Baroque style is quite large so it is not really practical for the typical home. It is all about opulence, strong colors like red, gold and purple, extensive carving and ornamentation. Chinoiserie is popular (Chinese lacquer, fans and porcelain) Everything is massive and richly decorated. Gold is the color of Baroque and is used in fabrics, ornaments and walls. For lighting, wall sconces of silver or brass with metal or mirror backs are appropriate. Floors, typically, have complex patterns using black and white diamond patterns. Large chandeliers are used extensively. Grand bed hangings and heavy window treatments define the style, too.

Modern Baroque Interiors use baroque patterns, gold and silver ornaments, chandeliers and baroque furniture mixed with modern elements of contemporary interior design. While Baroque comes very close to being pure theater, modernism is functional, clean and unpretentious. Here are some interesting ways that Baroque and Modernism are brought together:

Modern Baroque design with golden wallpaper and heavy curtains

Black and white dining room with Baroque patterns and chandelier

One modern designer who has reinterpreted Louis XIV Baroque is Philippe Starck with his Louis Ghost chair made of polycarbonate. This chair is one of his best known designs and now comes in a size for children. I’m not sure how this chair could possibly be comfortable since it’s all plastic. Starck also has a Marie Antoinette chair.

Blog 4

What Humanism Means Today

In researching what exactly Humanism is, I came across many philosophies about it. Renaissance humanism existed between faith and reason. There wasn’t a system of scientific principles at the time to believe in so a feeling of security in ones’ life still remained with the belief that God created the universe and designed everything and Man was a part of that design. The beauty seen in the paintings of Raphael and others represented inner virtue and were a path towards God.

Today, humanism is about civil rights, and the power of humanity. Current humanism outlines philosophies that are not religious. Like the humanism of Florence and the classical world, questioning plays a big role. Humanism is still all about human reason, ethics, logic, observation, and thought. Modern humanism supports scientific methods and believes faith as an unacceptable approach.

Blog 3

A Noteworthy Medici Descendant in Today’s World

Whenever I read about the Medici’s of Florence I always think of Lorenza De’ Medici. I have her large coffee table book “Italy The Beautiful Cookbook”

She traces her ancestry to Francesca de' Medici, granddaughter of the great patron of the Renaissance, Lorenze the Magnificent. Her ancestors were from the Naples branch, not the Florentine one.

She is one of Italy's most accomplished cooks and teachers who began with a part-time job at the interior decorating magazine Novita in Milan. She is now 73 years old and could have lived a life of leisure. Instead, she has published 36 cookbooks, appeared in a 13-part series on Italian cooking for public television and still conducts a cooking school every summer at Badia a Coltibuono, an 11th century estate and winery in Chianti. The estate began as a Benedictine abbey. The massive castle has dozens of rooms, a regal garden and an ancient, vaulted wine cellar. Lorenza, along with her daughter and her son, run the winery which was one of the first to grow super Tuscan grapes. The property includes 70 acres of olive trees, the oil from which the estate bottles in designer flasks and sells as a luxury item in American gourmet shops. I have tasted her Badia a Coltibuono olive oil and it’s quite peppery.

Blog 2 - How the reading relates to the everyday world

The figure in the book of van der Weyden’s Deposition is described as resembling a tableau vivant (living picture) because the figures appear to be 3 dimensional. It was interesting to find out that there is a 2 month festival every year called Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach. A group of costumed artist's models are carefully posed and don’t speak or move throughout the duration of the display. It is an art form combining painting and photography. Reproductions can be as big as 35 feet wide and 14 feet high. The models are then made two-dimensional by lighting and the elimination of shadows. One famous display that they always have is Da Vinci’s Last Supper. This is the tableau vivant, not the actual painting. It looks so real.