ToSY’s Art Corner

“Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1863 – 1923) was a Spanish painter. Sorolla excelled in the painting of portraits, landscapes, and monumental works of social and historical themes. His most typical works are characterized by a dexterous representation of the people and landscape under the sunlight of his native land.”

Chiaroscuro

“What’s your excuse ToSY?”

I thought I remembered you referring to some kind of art study.

I have no excuse. I did some art at school, but nothing since. I was drawn back into it by chance. Fortunately.

“I still don’t get “modern”, but am beginning to see the beauty in some other forms”

You’re not alone on that. Richard Schmid again, Alla Prima II:

“My younger days were not easy times in which to gain a meaningful art education. The reason stemmed from the predominance of Modern Art, and its emphasis on intuition and impulse rather than skill throughout most of the twentieth-century. The definition of Art itself had been radically altered away from what had been considered art before 1900. Indeed, most art prior to that time was largely repudiated as naïve. Instruction in highly skilled painting methods along with the supporting technology was in many cases methodically phased out of school systems and replaced by a laissez faire do-it-yourself arrangement. Representational painting was simply renamed illustration.

“The reasons why such a foolish situation came about are complicated, but it did.”

On a rainy day in Melbourne …

David Chen, Wet Day Swanston Street

Valentin Alexandrovich Serov, St. Mark Plaza in Venice, Study, 1887

Mancini, The Little Seminarian, 1872

Vermeer, Girl With A Red Hat, 1667

“Alfons Maria Mucha (24 July 1860 – 14 July 1939), often known in English and French as Alphonse Mucha, was a Czech Art Nouveau painter and decorative artist.”

Alfons Mucha, The Red Cape, 1902

David Leffel, Red Onion, Eggs & Paint Tubes

“Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as Academicism. The range of his oeuvre included historical painting, Greek mythology, Orientalism, portraits and other subjects, bringing the Academic painting tradition to an artistic climax. He is considered one of the most important painters from this academic period, and in addition to being a painter, he was also a teacher with a long list of students.”

Jean Leon Gerome. Arnaut Blowing Smoke in His Dog’s Nose

(Arnaut is oriental name for Albanian – This Arnaut warrior fought for Muhamed Ali (an Albanian), founder of modern Egypt.)

“While in Paris in the 1870s, Mancini met the Impressionist painters Edgar Degas and Édouard Manet. He became friends with John Singer Sargent, who famously pronounced him to be the greatest living painter.”

Mancini liked (painting) young boys, apparently.

William Merritt Chase, Still Life, 1903

Turner, Flint Castle, 1838

Zorn, Margit, 1891

“Hals was a master of a technique that utilized something previously seen as a flaw in painting, the visible brushstroke. The soft curling lines of Hals’ brush are always clear upon the surface”

Diego Velázquez, An old woman frying eggs, 1618

Fechin, Lepilov, 1909

Clayton Beck III, Carolyn Anderson

*Zhiwei Tu

http://zhiweituart.com/

Tu, Girl With Her Horses

Rembrandt, Selfportrait, 1630

John Singer Sargent (American, Florence 1856–1925 London), Dr. Pozzi at Home, 1881