artsy forager

Tag: masterworks

  • Masterworks Monday: The Cubists

    Sorry for the late post today– we’ve had some big things happening, so I’ve been a bit preoccupied.  More on that later!  For this week’s Masters Monday, we’re going a little more modern– enter Pablo Picasso and cubism.  Cubism is an early 20th century art movement that was begun by Picasso and Georges Braques in which objects were depicted from a multitude of viewpoints in a seemingly random fashion.

    Juan Gris. Breakfast. (1914)

    Breakfast by Juan Gris

    For me, cubism was a quite a breakthrough while taking figure drawing classes in college.  Once figure drawing started clicking for me, ( it was horribly frustrating at first, but my professor at UNF, Paul Ladnier, told me that one day it would just “click” and it would be smooth sailing– I didn’t believe him until it actually happened that way! ) it was then that Paul suggested I try a little cubism.  That’s when things REALLY started to get more fun and interesting!  I loved exaggerating the planes and forms.

    Pablo Picasso. Girl with a Mandolin (Fanny Tellier). Paris, late spring 1910

    Girl With a Mandolin ( Fanny Tellier ) by Pablo Picasso

    I realize Cubism isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but for me, it was the introduction into a different way of seeing, a new perspective on how we look at the things we see.

    Images via http://www.moma.org. 

    Read more about Cubism on MOMA’s website!

  • A Velázquez in the Cellar?

    OK, perhaps not exactly your grandmother’s attic, but it seems that a previously unattributed, damaged work stored at Yale University is thought by many experts to be a Velazquez.

    A Velázquez in the Cellar?.

  • Masterworks Monday: Vermeer

    Masterworks Monday: Vermeer

    I love modern & contemporary art.   Artists who find a new way of translating our reality fascinate me.  But the Art History geek in me also loves to look back at what was groundbreaking eons ago.  We have so much to learn from those who came before us, so each Monday will be dedicated to a work by one of the “Masters”.

    First up, one of my favorite artists whose work I’ve seen in person when visiting the Frick Collection in New York.

    Officer and Laughing Girl  by Johannes Vermeer, Dutch painter 1632-1675.

    Most of us are familiar with what may be Vermeer’s best known work, Girl With a Pearl Earring, but for me, he is at his best in his “slice of life” compositions such as Officer and Laughing Girl.  In this captured moment, Vermeer gives us a glimpse into a private, shared conversation.  Is this a young girl being courted by a gallant officer?  What is their relationship?  Vermeer leaves us in wonder.

    Vermeer’s paintings are usually much cooler in tone than those of his contemporaries and this one is no exception.  The light coming in through the leaded glass windows is clear, but feels frostly, especially in contrast to the warm tones of the officer and girl’s clothing and the looks being exchanged.

    For more information on Vermeer, here are a few sources:

    The Essential Vermeer

    The Frick Collection, which houses several Vermeers, including the one above