All posts by Norma Smith

Gustave Klimt 1862 – 1918. Austrian Symbolist Painter.

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450px-Gustav_Klimt_016

Vienna in Austria gradually grew from being a Roman settlement, in the 11th. century it was an important trading site, by the 19th. century it was the capital of the Austrian Empire. Around 1900 the city became the centre of the Art Nouveau movement, Gustave Klimt was prominent in that movement.

Klimt was born in Vienna, the second of seven children, his father was born in Bohemia and was a gold engraver, they were a poor immigrant family. Klimt with two brothers worked together in order to keep the family from starving by painting in theatres, museums and churches, Gustave attended the Vienna Public Art School from the age of fourteen, he is thought by art historians to be one of the most important painters to come out of Vienna. In 1892 he became a member of the Co-Operative Society of Austrian painters, five years later in 1897 he was a founding member of the Seccessionist Movement known as Art Nouveau along with other unconventional artists, their aim was to bring more abstract and purer forms to the design of buildings and furniture, bringing  together Naturalists and Modernists. Naturalists were like the Realist movement which included painters such as Courbet who painted to represent subject matter truthfully with no artificiality or supernatural elements, peasants working in a corn field for example, the movement began in France in the 1850s after the 1848 Revolution in Paris. Modernists were  a philosophical movement, a factor which influenced them was the modern industrial society. As commented on so many times before in these blogs, the Art Nouveau Movement was another protest group of the younger generation, looking for a separation of the past looking towards the future. Klimt was their first chairman, they created exhibition posters and published a journal called Sacred Spring.

In 1901 Klimt painted ‘Philosophy’ exhibited at the Paris World Fair to great acclaim, winning first prize, he visited Ravenna and Florence in 1904, he resigned from the Seccessionist Movement to create a new association called Art Show. He led a cloistered life as a devoted painter, but he fathered fourteen illegitimate children, all the time successfully managing to keep a low profile on his various relationships, while mixing with and painting portraits of society women. He had a life – long companion, Emilie Louise Floge, thought to be his model for the painting I have chosen called The Kiss. You may know of the Rodin sculpture named The Kiss made between 1901 and 1904.

The Kiss was painted between 1907 and 1908, Klimt found a new style of painting in oils together with an appliction of gold leaf. The clothes the couple are seen wearing are designed by Klimt and made by Emilie Floge, his material has a black and white design, the female figure wears a flowery material with spiral patterns reminiscent of Bronze Age Art, the background is plain, sparkling with bright dots. The painting is thought to celebrate and be a symbol of the attraction of the sexes, there is another version given in a television programme by Dr. James Fox who viewed the painting  differently, he thinks that it symbolises something more disturbing, that the woman is not relaxed, not enjoying being kissed, her face is turned away from her partner, her body looks uncomfortable, he thinks that the painting is a symbol of the tensions existing in Vienna at the time, the years leading up to WW1. Symbolist painters and poets looked for inspiration in spirituality, imagination and dreams, was this painting prophetic? Symbolists were anti- idealistic, rather they attempted to ‘ represent reality in its gritty particularity and to elevate the humble and the ordinary over the ideal.’ Shopenahuer thought of  ‘Art as a contemplative refuge from the world of strife’. Perhaps you remember an earlier blog about Pierre Bonnard, another Symbolist, one of my favourite painters. This painting is tense but not at all humble with its glittering gold, like a Byzantine mosaic mural I saw in St. Marks in Venice, it has a decadent quality not everyday in appearance. Outwardly Vienna seemed wealthy, rich inhabitants danced at fine balls disregarding the poverty that surrounded them and they denied the undercurrents of rebellion, soon the world would witness the horrors of war.

Klimt died aged forty eight having suffered a stroke followed by pneumonia.

Abstract Painters. Jackson Pollock 1912 – 1956.

Practice, The Arts, ,

 

No._5,_1948 Pollock

Abstract painting is not a single movement, it has a longer history than many think and includes many styles, it can be traced back to 15th. century Russian icons in the Byzantine style that have abstract elements, up until the present day where many abstract artists are working. The Russian born Madame Blavatsky painted abstracts, working in the latter part of the 19th. century, she was a theosophist who painted her interpretations of dreams, inspired by themes she studied from ancient Eastern religions, she wished to return to ancient truths, believed in the transmigration of the soul and held a belief in an ante-natal state of existence, theosophists rejected dogma, their aim was to promote love, understanding and compassion. Then there was Helma af Klimt in Sweden, Emilie Alberg brought her work to our attention in a thread published on the site last year, Helma thought that she was in touch with spirits and that she received messages from the ‘High Master’ from an astral plain, she wrote copious notes to guide her paintings which she hoped would help to change society for the better.  In England in the 1930s the artist Ben Nicholson painted abstracts, his wife was the sculptor Barbara Hepworth. Vassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian and the Russian artist Malevich also painted abstracts, all very different in style from each other, they were searchig for a fourth dimension which had ‘overtones of Theosophy and monism which saw the untity of all things’ both spiritul and material. Kandinsky painting in Germany felt that colours had spiritual qualities, for example yellow as a typical earthly quality, disturbing;   blue is deep, supernatural, a typical heavenly colour;   green, a mixture of blue and yellow denotes stillness, peace;   red symbolised being alive and confident. He wrote Concerning the Spiritual in Art, he attempted to depict a gravity free and direction-less space in his work, Paul Klee painted abstracts, he also had strong spiritual beliefs. In the 1950s and 1960s Bridget Riley in England painted what was called Op Art, composed of coloured  lines, she continues to work in this style she feels that there is an energy and flow depicted in her work.

I have chosen an abstract work by the artist Jackson Pollock born in 1912 in Wyoming, called No.5 painted in 1948. Pollock was adopted after the death within a short time of both his parents, he grew up in Arizona and California, he then moved to New York, a central  hub for artists, no longer Paris as had been the case in the early 1900s, he exhibited in the Peggy Guggenheim Gallery. Pollock was one of the most influential artists in  1950s American, he is called an Abstract Expressionist painter, he married another abstract artist, Lee Krasner who gave him moral support. His canvases were very large, sometimes twenty feet wide, painted while spread on his studio floor or on the ground on which he dripped, splashed and trailed liquid paint, a paint invented and sold commercially since 1936, he would apply the paint with hardened brushes, sticks , trowels or whatever he thought suitable, building up areas, creating depth gradually. He thought on a huge scale, many thought he painted without reason, that it was chaotic – it may in fact be possible that ‘he had an intuition of the nature of chaotic motion’ he ends up with a controlled structure, balanced and harmonious containing a range of textures, often described as a visual symphony. Pollock used the force of his whole body to apply the paint. He walked slowly around the canvas sometimes on the canvas, totally absorbed until he felt the work complete, he often worked with black paint or up to seven colours creating vibrating space, his work has been described as capturing the American dream, the canvas likened to a vast screen, an American wilderness.

Pollock fought to find his own voice against all the criticism that came his way, he was also fighting to overcome alcoholism. Between the years 1938 and 1941 he underwent Jungian psychotherapy in a bid to recover, his work is said to have ben influenced by Jungian concepts and archetypes –  ‘universal, archaic patterns and images that derive from the collective unconscious’. This style of painting has been called  ‘drip painting’, Pollock acknowledged that he was influenced by the work of the Ukrainian artist Janet Sobel working in the 1940s.  Fractals have been seen in his work where small areas are repeated reducing in size, each area similar to the whole work.

Painting No. 5 sold in 2006 for 140 million dollars, it has become an investment, helped no doubt by the fact that it was a new kind of painting. Sadly his golden period ended in 1951, he may have had bi-polar disorder, he had rages and was bitter at times, he began drinking again, his best work was behind him, he died in a car accident in 1956 aged forty four, driving while intoxicated.

In a recent television programme Dr. James Fox noted that the time around the time Pollock was working America was buzzing with creativity, Jack Kerouac wrote On the Road, a stream of consciousness novel and jazz musicians such as Thelonious Monk were composing and playing.

Information and image from wikipedia and other web sites.

Indian Painting of combined Hindu gods Shiva and Vishnu.

The Arts, Uncategorized

 

Vishnu_and_Shiva_in_a_combined_form,_as_'Hari-hara,'

 

‘Indian wisdom has always extolled art as the key in the salvation of ultimate release sought by all good Hindus’. In particular I find Indian miniature paintings very beautiful and colourful, designed with great ingenuity to fit a small space.

In Hinduism the central idea, the philosophy, is that there is a continuing cycle of birth and rebirth as humans search for emotional and psychological pleasure which perpetuates until the soul is freed from karma and reaches Moksha. This complex religion had its roots in India some say as far back as 10,000 years BC. It recognises a single deity Brahman but other gods or goddesses are recognised as an appearance of the supreme god Brahman who is the creator and one in a trinity comprised of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

In this painting we see the combination of the two gods, Vishnu and Shiva, creator/destroyer, formed as one figure, the painter explores metaphorically the ground between these extremes, to find a balance, is there middle ground between such opposed roles, that of Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer,  a divided self? It is in our power to be both creative and destructive.

Indian art in the Hindu tradition contains a wealth of symbols in a way similar to those used in Renaissance art centuries later. I do not know who painted this or where in India it orignated or its date but it is probably painted in oils. Indian art is found on cave walls, as reliefs, frescoes and scultpture and in many styles.

Vishnu in Hinduism is a popular deity, a Supreme god of the Vaishnavism denomination, one of the three most influential denominations in contemporary Hinduism. He is believed to be eternal and supreme, beyond the material universe, he is the maintainer or preserver who can be worshipped in the form of ten avatars, Rama and Krishna being the most famous, not seen or measured by material science or logic, each Hindu aims to dwell in a place of bliss for eternity. Here the question once again is posed of whether we are finite beings or infinite.

Vishnu is depicted as having a dark complexion like water – filled clouds, usually he is seen with four arms, he stands on a lotus flower, an ancient Indian symbol of purity and special power and is also shown as an example of ‘glorious existence and liberation’, he holds a discus, a mace, a conch and a trident, the lotus flower in this painting is set on a cosmic ocean with a red sky, a sunset or sunrise I’m not sure. Vishnu is married to Lakshmi, they have children who are also worshipped such as Ganesh, the elephant god.

Shiva is worshipped by the Chauvism denomination, the oldest of the major sects of Hinduism, it  probably has its roots in Shiva worship in the Indus Valley. He is the other god portrayed whose role is that of the destroyer, he will destroy the ego and the universe at the end of a age, he is also seen as the God of the Dance, he dances the dance of death, he destroys illusions and imperfections making way for beneficial change, he is the source of good and evil and can swing to and fro from hedonist to ascetic. Parvati is his eternal wife, she is able to keep him in balance within the bonds of marriage. We see him portrayed with a blue face and throat and usually he has a white body, although that can also be blue, he has a third eye which depicts his wisdom and untamed energy, he is often seen wearing a cobra necklace to show his fearless domination of dangerous animals, three white lines lie across his forehead drawn with white ash which may hide his third eye, these lines show that he possesses superhuman power and wealth. He holds a three pronged trident to symbolise the triumvirate of the three in one god, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, lastly he is dressed in simple animal skins and is often set in austere surroundings looking tranquil and smiling.

In this portrayal known as Hari-hara, the gods holds a conch shell, a symbol of the five elements, water, fire, earth, air and space or sky, it produces the sound ‘Om’ the primeval sound of creation, a discus which refers to the mind, a trident which I mentioned earlier and lastly the mace which represents mental and physical strength. All aspects of life are covered.

Image from wikimedia commons.

 

Paolo Uccello 1397 – 1475. The Battle of San Romano 1432.

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san_romano

 

How does an artist represent three dimensional space and an illusion of depth on a flat surface? One early example of how this can be done would be to look at the work of Paolo Uccello who was born in Florence in 1397, his father was a barber-surgeon, his mother a high-born Florentine. Uccello is his nickname, Paul of the birds, so named because he liked to paint birds and other creatures. He was a mathematician and painter and is remembered for his development of perspective, a method of producing a sense of space and depth in a painting, there are other ways such as with the use of colour. The Egyptian and Byzantine artists had totally disregarded perspective, Giotto in Italy had made some strides to obtain this sense in his wonderful murals, now we do not find it difficult to achieve providing we learn a few basic rules. It was not until the early Renaissance era that perspective was used , these years between the 14th and early 17th. centuries were a time that heralded the end of the Middle Ages, it is thought to have began in Florence. New knowledge focused through the developing natural sciences was sought and collected by philosophers, scientists and artists, this new approach was thought to have been brought by Greek scholars who fled from Constantinople when the Ottoman Turks concquered the city, they brought their texts and knowledge with them, Greek and Roman mythology was studied once again and would be again by artists like Picasso.

Uccello was so interested in solving the problem of perspective that he would stay up at night attempting to find vanishing points, he was an idiosynchratic character who had no school of followers although he influenced artists such as Piero della Francesco, Albert Durer and Leonardo da Vinci, his tutor was Ghiberti who designed the magnificent doors of the Florence Baptistry. Uccello married in 1453.

The Battle of San Romano was depicted in three panels painted over several years with egg tempera on wood, the battle was between Florence and Sienna which lasted for eight hours, the forces of Florence were the victors – Italy was not unified then. These paintings were a secular commission, most artists then worked mainly for patrons in the church and so did Uccello, this tryptich was admired later by Lorenzo de Medici who did much to foster the Arts, the Medici family were a powerful dynasty who ruled in Florence. I have chosen the middle panel painted between 1435 and 1455, the three panels were intended to be hung high on three walls, they are now separated, one is in the National Gallery I think, another in the Louvre in Paris and the one I have chosen is held in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, each panel is about three metres long.

In this work we see a colourful pageant, a tournament rather than a real battle scene, Uccello was a mathematician with a purpose! In these paintings he exhibits his theories on perspective, he was not concerned with the feelings of the participants on the battlefield, the result is a rather wooden look to the characters, the horses could be rocking horses and the knights stuffed dummies, forms are foreshortened, we see a forest of lances and some are broken and lying on the ground as are two of the horses one with the knight still in the saddle, foot soldiers are bunched together in the middle distance, all methods used by Uccello to exhibit perspective as our eyes are led to the background, strangely there is a hunt also taking place across the fields. I like the use of the warm and rich colour, for the horse’s bridles he used gold leaf and for the armour silver leaf, which has tarnished over time. Uccello was a man of the Renaissance but as with many artists he also had  knowledge the past, in this case earlier gothic art. The work is more like a fairy tale  in pictures even though it depicts an historic violent event, I think that is why I like it.

Bernard Berenson, an art critic who wrote about Renaissance art in Italy was perhaps a little harsh when discussing Uccello’s work, he pointed out that art is not simply skill or a show of dexterity or to be used for scientific purposes, I would agree but Uccello did achieve what he set out to do, and as early example of perspective he was successful. Berenson worte ‘ Florentine art rushed to its end’ because of these failings, other schools of art in Italy prospered. Sadly Uccello went the same way, spending his latter years forgotten and lonely with a sick wife, he died in 1475.

Image from wikipedia,

Alfred Wallis 1855 – 1942. The Hold House St. Ives circa 1932.

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Wallis,_Hold_House_Port_Mear_Square_Island

 

Staying with the sea side theme a little longer I have chosen a painting by Alfred Wallis, the painting is called  The Hold House, Port Mear, Island Point, Mear Beach, St. Ives. The work of Wallis can be categorised as Naive. We see the main image is the Hold House, the cottages by the shore seem to be on a hill, the fishing boat is tipped up as though by a high wave, many waves head for the shore and the island of green is the peninsular, as though Wallis sees the scene from a hill top, yet we understand it completely.

Alfred Wallis was born in Devon where his father had found work, his parents were Cornish, following the death of his mother his father moved the family back to Penzance, Cornwall. Wallis began his painting career aged seventy, he said he was lonely after the death of his wife and his paintings kept him company. He had many stored memories of sailing ships which were being replaced by steam powered vessels, the sea was in his blood, I imagine a physically strong man with skin tanned by the sea and wind. He married Susan Ward when he was twenty, his wife was twice his age, he became step-father to her five children. Having spent his life living by and working on the sea he must have remembered many trips on deep-sea schooners fishing between Penzance and Newfoundland when serving in the Merchant Navy, he had a number of jobs, as a boy he made baskets, he joined the merchant navy in the 1870s, he changed to fishing locally and did labouring work until he became an assistant to an antique dealer where he learnt about objets d’art.

Wallis had  no money to buy art materials, he often used cardboard from packing cases on which to paint and paints purchased from ship’s candlers. For this painting he used the reverse of a board printed to advertise an exhibition held by the St. Ives Society of Arts at the Porthmeor Gallery. His palette was restricted to a few colours described as ‘shiny blacks, fierce greys, strange whites, rich dark browns and the pungeant Cornish green.’

Wallis said he was expressing his experiences as he painted, for him they had embodied meaning, he knew the geography of St. Ives and the beach with its surf waves, they would have been high and powerful in the storms that hit that coast. He had never had an art lesson and when some years later famous artists went to live in St. Ives such as Ben Nicholson, who dicovered his work,  Wallis’s style did not change, more the other way round,  his work inspired the artists who had set up an artist’s colony in St. Ives, he carried on painting as before. Barbara Hepworth bought this painting before donating  it  to a gallery, it is now in the Tate. He destroyed much of his work, a great pity but the remainder is now more valuable, he was not concerned with perspective, he lifts his scenes up like a map, scale was not important either, images that were his main focus were painted larger. His work has been called deeply mystical, I am not sure it is for me but there is a sense of an emotional attachment to the area, he has a good sense of design, especially seen in sea views filled with many multi – sailed vessels. (images not licenced to be reproduced, but well worth finding online.)

Wallis wrote his work was ‘something that has grown out of the Cornish seas and earth which will endure.’ His lack of education did nothing to suppress his emotional attachment to his surroundings, sadly he died in poverty in Madron Workhouse, Penzance, believing that his neighbours were jealous of his non – existent wealth and the fact that he knew famous artists. Galleries in America, Australia, New Zealand and Britain own his work and countless private collectors.
Many fakes are also on the market.

Bernard Leach, the famous potter, created a gravestone to commerate his life which portrays Wallis as a tiny mariner at the foot of a huge lighthouse, much in the style  of Wallis himself. His last home where he  lived from 1890 at 3 Back Road West St. Ives has been restored, many paintings by  him have been copied onto its walls, the house is available to rent as a holiday home, I wonder what he would make of that!

Image from wikipedia.