Assignment 9- Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso

Assignment 9- Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso was 12 years younger than Henri Matisse.  The two artists worked at the same time and knew each other personally.  The two of them were a certain type of “friends but enemies.”  They analyzed each other’s work, and they also tried to best each other.  Both Picasso and Matisse went through an evolution of their work.  They both started in a more realistic style.  They are both incredible artists in their own rights.  They have the ability to paint things that are so realistic, but they chose to represent their emotions in other forms.  For example, the piece Woman Reading was one of the first pieces that Matisse did.

Woman Reading, oil, 1894, Henri Matisse

You can see the details in this painting.  It is very beautiful and could easily be compared to the great works of realism art.  Picasso painted a piece called the Old Fisherman.

Old Fisherman, oil, 1895, Pablo Picassa

This piece is so detailed and there is so much depth.  This piece shows us the incredible talent that Picasso possessed.  Both artists could have spent an entire career painting like this, but instead they decided to choose a different kind of art, expressing themselves through styled including cubism. 

            As time goes on, both artist begin to focus less and less on the details and more and more on the shapes and the colors.  A great example of the shift in Matisse’s work was the piece Dance(II).  

Dance(II), oil, 1910, Henri Matisse

There is no longer the details that make a painting look realistic, but rather a focus on the shape and the free flowing motion of the people and the contrast of the colors.  Picasso also shifts focus in the same way, shown in his painting At the Lapin Agile.

At the Lapin Agile, oil, 1905, Pablo Picasso

You can see a similar change that is seen in the Matisse painting.  This painting is a little bit more detailed than Dance (II), but it is still not realistic.  The colors and the shapes have become more important that the details of the face at this point in Picasso and Matisse’s career.

            As time goes on, both artist move further and further away from realism, moving towards abstract art.  The piece Portrait of Lydia Delectorskaya shows the change in the style of Henri Matisse.

Portrait of Lydia Delectorskaya, oil, 1947, Henri Matisse

This piece is very similar in style to Picasso’s painting which is untitled.

Untitled, oil, 1923, Pablo Picasso

Even though the Picasso painting is a distorted shape, you can see the parallels in the two pieces because the Matisse has a distortion in color.  The change in the styles is very drastic from their original works. 

            The final pieces of the two artist’s life are very telling of the way that their careers have progressed.  Henri Matisse turned to using paper cutouts when he could no longer paint.  In 1953, only a year before his death, he made this piece Standing Blue Nude.

Standing Blue Nude, gouache and cut out paper, 1953, Henri Matisse







 Picasso painted a final self-portrait in 1972.

Self Portrait, oil, 1972, Pablo Picasso

This painting also shows how far Picasso has come away from realism.  This piece is both a representation of how he sees the world and how he saw himself.

Assignment 8-Georgia O’keeffe and Kathe Kollwitz

Assignment 8-Georgia O’keeffe and Kathe Kollwitz

            The first and most striking difference between the work of Georgia O’keeffe and Kathe Kollwitz is the use of color.  Kathe Kollwitz uses black and grey for all of her works.  Georgia O’keeffe is the exact opposite of Kathe Kollwitz.  She uses very vibrant colors in her work that really light up the canvases.  Georgia O’keeffe gained most of her inspiration from the desert.  Some of her best works came from the time that she spent in the desert of Santa Fe New Mexico.  This piece, Ram’s Head White Hollyhock and Little Hills.

Ram's Head White Hollyhock and Little Hills, oil, 1935, Georgia O'keeffe

You can see the details and the beautiful colors in this painting.  She put a lot of emotion into this painting.  The colors next to each other make this painting incredibly vivid.

            Kathe Kollwitz had a very depressing life.  She had lost a son to the war and she believed that art should reflect the conditions of the time.  Living in what was then East Prussia, there is no question as to why her paintings are so grim.  It was a rough place to grow up and live in, and that is reflected in her works.  This one is called Woman with Dead Child, and it really shows her sadness.

Woman with Dead Child, etching, 1903, Kathe Kollwitz

The contrast between these two pieces is striking.

            Both of these artists drew inspiration from the areas that they were living.  This allowed Georgia O’keeffe to paint many beautiful images, drawing inspiration from the beauty of her surroundings.  She painted the beauty of New York, Hawaii, and New Mexico.  She was able to go outside and sit in isolation and paint all of the beauty around her.  This lead to some really lovely pieces of art, such as the Pineapple Bud and Blue and Green Music.

Pineapple Bud, oil, 1939, Georgia O'keeffe

Blue and Green Music, oil, 1921, Georgia O'keeffe

You can clearly see the influences of where she lived in these pieces.  I think that Blue and Green Music shows the busy life of New York.  It is the color of music of her time.  While it is very busy, it is also very pleasant.  Pineapple Bud is from her time in Hawaii, and it is very representative of the land.  However, the colors are skewed, putting complimentary colors next to each other.  It makes it so vivid and bright. 

            Kathe Kollwitz shows the sadness of where she lived in her painting Survivors, which was painted in a very broken post World War I Germany,

Survivors, graphite, 1923, Kathe Kollwitz

You can also see another example of this in her wood etching In Memoriam Karl Liebknecht, done just a few years before Survivors.

In Memoriam Karl Liebknecht, wood etching, 1920, Kathe Kollwitz

Both artists wove their lives into their work in different ways.  Though very different, the composition of their lives work were created in a very similar manner.  

Assignment 7- Inspiration and Influences

Assignment 7- Influences

Leonardo da Vinci was 31 years older than Raphael and was a major inspiration and a mentor to Raphael.  It is most evident in his sketch “Woman on a Balcony,” which shows clear resemblance to da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

 Woman on a Balcony,  ink, 1504, Raphael

Mona Lisa, oil, 1503-1505, Leonardo Da Vinci














It is obvious how similar these two pieces are.  The Raphael sketch is very similar to the Mona Lisa.  It is theorized that the sketch was inspired by one of the earlier versions of the Mona Lisa that was painted by da Vinci. This sketch was never painted by Raphael, but a very similar piece was painted, called Young Woman with a Unicorn.                                                            

                                                                      Young Woman with a Unicorn, oil, 1506, Raphael

The way that he portrays facial features is very similar to the way that da Vinci does, for example the Ginevra de' Benci.

Ginevra de' Benci, oil, 1474-1478, Leonardo Da Vinci

I really think that the way the two painters portray eyes is similar.  They both place an emphasis on eyelids.  They also use a lot of the same facial expressions in their paintings.  People never seem to be smiling in a da Vinci or a Raphael painting.  Raphael also seems to use a lot of the stances that da Vinci has his subject take.  The majority of both of their portraiture work involves a woman with her hair out of her face with her shoulders back. 

            Raphael also clearly got the way that he portrays mother and child from the work of da Vinci.  Both of them paint mothers looking lovingly down at their children.  Side by side, some of the mother and child paintings are so similar that you can barely tell which painting belongs to which artist.  For example, looking at the Madonna and Child with a pomegranate by da Vinci,

Madonna and Child with a Pomegranate, oil, 1487, Leonardo Da Vinci

we can see that it bears a resemblance to the Raphael painting Madonna del Granduca, which was painted 18 years after Madonna and Child with a Pomegranate.

Madonna del Granduca, oil,1505, Raphael

The similarities between these pieces are too strong to say that Raphael was not influenced by Leonardo da Vinci.  It is obvious that he drew a lot of inspiration from the pieces that da Vinci had produced before them.  Both artists are incredible in their own rights, and da Vinci had to have been inspired by someone as well, and Raphael in turn inspired the next generation of artists.  

Assignment 6- Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonrotti

assignment 6-Michelangelo and Leonardo

One interesting thing about both Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo is that when you first think of them, each has a signature piece that comes to mind.  For Leonardo, it is the Mona Lisa, and for Michelangelo, it is the Sistine chapel.

Sistine Chapel, fresco, 1508-1512, Michelangelo

Mona Lisa, oil, 1503-1517, Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo both spent a lot of time creating works of art for the Catholic Church.  They also were both masters of the human anatomy, they studies the form and were incredibly skilled at showing movement in flat images.  One thing that I find interesting about both of them is that they tried things outside of their comfort zones.  Michelangelo said that he was not a painter when he was asked to paint the Sistine Chapel.  Where Michelangelo was an amazing sculptor, creating beautiful works such as the Pieta, Leonardo Da Vinci was an amazing painter.  

Pieta, marble, 1498-1499, Michelangelo

Leonardo was going to try his hand at sculpture when he was commissioned to sculpt a massive bronze horse that would stand 24 feet high.  It was commissioned by the duke of Milan to guard his castle.  Da Vinci was going to make sure that it was done right, and he spent years working on sketches and finally made a full scale model.  This project, however, was stopped when the French army was attacking and all of the bronze was used to make cannons, and sadly the clay horse was used as target practice.  Years later the sketch was discovered and a group decided to cast the bronze horse, unveiling it in 1999.

Horse, ink, 1482, Leonardo Da Vinci

Completely unrelated to their work, it is rumored that the two prolific artists hated each other.  It is truly a shame that these two were not friends because so much of their work is similar and they were both mentors to Raphael.  You can see similarities in their work by looking at pieces such as the Battle of Cascina by Michelangelo and the Battle of Anghiari by Leonardo Da Vinci. 

Battle of Cascina, oil, 1504, Michelangelo

Battle of Anghiari, oil, 1504-1505, Leonardo Da Vinci

Looking at the two side by side, it is easy to see how similar they were.  They both had an amazing command of the human form, and were both able to make musculature come alive.  Who knows what could have come from the two of them working together.  

Assignment 5- Sculpture and Installation

Assignment 5- sculptures

This is one of my favorite Renaissance sculptures, the Crouching Boy, by Michelangelo. Marble, 1530-1534.

Crouching boy, Michelangelo, Marble, 1530-1534















I like this sculpture because it is a lot more raw than what he usually does.  So many of his other sculptures, like the Pieta, are so immaculate.

Pieta, Michelangelo, marble, 1498-1499

While the Pieta is absolutely beautiful, it does not appeal to me in the way that the Crouching Boy does.  It is too perfect.  When I look at the Pieta, I feel like it is high above me.  It is so shiny and there is so much detail that it feels real.  It feels like I am looking at something that is too good for me.  The Crouching boy, however, is very simple.  You can still make out the form, but the details are not present in the way that they are in the Pieta. 

            So many of his pieces were religious, which makes sense because the church hired him to create many masterpieces for the cathedrals.  Another piece that he created that is religious in nature is Rachel.

Rachel, Michelangelo, Marble, 1545

Beautiful sculpting did not end after the Renaissance, and I really enjoy the work of modern sculptor Emil Alzamora, who, like Michelangelo, mainly focuses on the human form.  Much like Michelangelo, he is incredibly keen to proportions and to the details of the human anatomy.  However, he skews parts of the body in an amazing artistic representation, for example, his piece Tether.

Tether, Emil Alzamora, Bronze, 2006

I think that this piece is amazing.  The way that the body looks so real and yet due to arm length you know that it is not possible.  I love his sense of the human body as well as his use of the arms to show an emotion. 

He mainly does humans, but in the piece Sleeping shark, he shows us that he also has a talent for animal anatomy. 

Sleeping Shark, Emil Alzamora, Ceramic and auto paint, 2010

I am really amused by this because a living shark could never take this position, it would literally drown.  A shark needs to propel water to keep oxygenation, either by moving or constantly open and closing its mouth.  Perhaps this shark is not sleeping but rather is dead.  It is an interesting piece even though it is not scientifically accurate.  It shows a more peaceful side to an animal that we almost always associate with violence and death. 

Out of all of his pieces, my favorite by far is Hone.                  Hone,  Emil Alzamora, Bronze, 2011. 

It is a very lager piece with exaggerated features, but when I look at it I can imagine this person standing up and walking away.

Assignment 4- Graphic Design (iconic symbol/logo)

Assignment 4- history of the peace sign

The peace sign is a symbol that is very well known to many people.  It has become a symbol that has stood for years and has been used in many different things.  It was designed by Gerald Holtom in 1958.  The design was initially intended to be the symbol for the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War, also known as the DAC.  Within the sign there are two letters represented in the lines, an N and a D, which are representative of “Nuclear disarmament.”  The letters are from signals that are used to convey messages from ship to ship, which were called semaphore letters.  The N is the three lines that are pointed downwards.  The person who is doing the signal is holding flags pointed downwards at a 45 degree angle, so the two 45 degree lines are the N.  The D is made by a person holding one flag upward and one flag downwards, so the D is the long center line.  Here is a diagram:

When the symbol was finished on February 21, 1958, it became known in Britain for nuclear disarmament, but when it spread to the United States it became known for peace.  It became internationally known for peace after that. 

            There are a few things that have similar symbols that have posed a challenge to the symbol are some anti-Christian symbols and a Nazi symbol.  This symbol is found on some Nazi graves:

The survivors of the holocaust probably struggle with the use of this symbol because it was used as a symbol in a war that killed so many people. 

Nero crucified the apostle peter upside down, and the upside down cross, which resembles the peace sign, was used as a Christian symbol.  Lately, it has been used for satanistic purposes.  

The peace sign is widely known for peace, but sometimes the symbol has been equated to things that it was not intended to be.

Assignment 3-Drawing/Painting

assignment 3- Artists who excelled in painting and drawing

One of my favorite painters is the artist Salvador Dali.  He is a surrealist painter whose images have deeper hidden meaning within them.  One of the most famous paintings by him is the Persistence of Memory.  This painting shows that the concept of time is a human construct.  The clocks melting and the carcasses show the degradation of time as we know it.  I like the surrealist work because it is like entering a dream, everything is so realistic but it is also so distorted.

The Persistence of Memory, Salvador Dali, oil, 1931










This painting is realistic and impossible at the same time.  When I look at this painting, I feel like I am seeing the world through the eyes of Dali, like I have entered his dreams. 
Another “real but unreal” painting by him is called the temptation of Saint Anthony.

The Temptation of Saint Anthony, Salvador Dali,
oil, 1946

This piece is really interesting because of the length of the legs.  You can really see the message that Dali is trying to convey.  He is showing his faith through his art.  Dali went through a very religious phase in his painting career, and this painting was a part of it.  He is saying that the power of the cross is stronger than the power of evil.

The Portrait of Paul Eluard is another interesting piece:

Portrait of Paul Eluard, Salvador Dali, oil, 1929

It is interesting to see the different elements that go into a surrealist painting.  Each of the objects individually are a work of art in themselves.  They are all very life like and alone would look like a normal painting.  However, when you put them together, I think that it is quite fascinating to see what the artist can tell you through this combination of objects.

Leonardo Da Vinci is most well-known for painting the Mona Lisa, but he was also very good at drawing.  One of his best drawings is an anatomically correct skull, called View of a Skull:

View of a Skull, Leonardo Da Vinci, ink, 1489

The way that the bony processes and grooves of the skull are drawn are so descriptive.  The skull looks so real in this drawing.  The features of our skeleton are uniquely different on every person, and he manages to put all of the features on this skull that would have made this person unique.  He also did another View of a Skull where he showed a cross section:

View of a skull, Leonardo Da Vinci, ink, 1510-1511

This one is amazing because it shows a realistic interpretation of what the inside of the skull looks like.

He was incredibly skilled at showing all of the details that define a human as an individual in this work.  He also drew a picture called Study of a Woman:

Study of a Woman, Leonardo Da Vinci, ink, 1490

The View of the Skull was drawn before Study of a Woman.  I bet that drawing a skull first helped him correctly get the dimensions and depth of the face of this woman.

Assignment 2- Visual Elements/ Principles of design

Assignment 2- Light

The variation of light and darkness is what really makes a work of art come alive.  Without the shadows and highlights, a painting looks flat.  One of my favorite examples of an artist who used lights and darks to make a painting come to life is the Rouen Cathedral by Claude Monet.  The Cathedral was painted at different times of the day so that Monet could show us how the light changes at different times.  He was showing how important light is in our perception of something at any time.  What is interesting about the series of paintings is that they are all painted from the same point of view, just at different times in the day.  Each painting looks distinctly unique even though they are of the same cathedral.  What makes them different is the way that the light hitting the cathedral is displayed on his canvas.  This painting is the Rouen Cathedral, The West Portal, Dull Weather.

Rouen Cathedral, The West Portal, Dull Weather, Monet, oil, 1892

This image shows the cathedral when it was darker in the winter.  The way the light hits it portrays a darker theme.  It invokes a different feeling than the other paintings in the series that are lighter, such as the Sunset Rouen Cathedral.

Sunset Rouen Cathedral, Monet, oil, 1892-1894

This picture has a much lighter feeling to it.  Looking at it invokes a more happy feeling than the Dull Weather painting.  It is amazing how this can be achieved by a change in the light alone.  Looking at a painting of the same building, you can have two very different feelings just because the light changed. 

The cathedral painting called Morning Effect is another feeling in itself.  It is very gloomy and it reminds me of an overcast morning. 

Rouen Cathedral, Morning Effect, Monet, oil, 1892-1894

Assignment 1-What is Art/Themes of Art

Assignment 1- Looking inward: the human experience

Art is so many things to a society.  An artist not only expresses their own individuality in a piece, but also a part of their culture.  I grew up in Whittier, California, a suburb of Los Angeles County, just east of the city of East Los Angeles.  There are a lot of street murals in my area that I grew up seeing.  I loved to stare at the murals and try to find all of the meaning that the artist put into them.  My favorite mural is a piece that is in an exhibit near Olvera street by the artist David Alfaro Siqueiros called the America Tropical.  It is a mural that depicts the racial inequality in the 1930s.  Standing next to the mural, I felt very small.  It was such a powerful piece that really made me think about its implications and how it still relates to the issues that are still present today.  This is the America Tropical, taken from the LA Times website. 

America Tropical, Siqueiros, acrylic and aerosol, 1932

We have a huge graffiti problem in the Los Angeles area.  Some of it is senseless.  It is a way for gangs to mark their territory, and people lose their lives over it.  But there is also street art.  I love street art.  I believe that it is such a raw expression of our people and it makes our cities and neighborhoods so much more beautiful.  One of my favorites pieces is done by the artist El mac.  The faces that he paint have so much life in them.  I can really see the emotions that his work expresses.  This one is my personal favorite of his work.

Untitled, El Mac, acrylic and aerosol, 2007

El mac also painted a piece called the la Reina de Thaitown.  I like this one because of the way that the girl is looking downwards.    It shows us a lot about the area that the artist is representing in his work.

la Reina de Thaitown, El mac, acrylic and aerosol, 2010