Top Tips for Selling Art Online

In case you inquire further, lots of painters can tell you that one of the most important issues they struggle with is learning to promote themselves and reaching new markets. The traditional gallery option is certainly not an easy one - an artist has to establish and retain connections with gallery managers who can exert a lot of influence. Nonetheless, quite a few galleries are confirming a decline in sales owing to the competition from web sales, and this is not a development which is very likely to disappear anytime soon.

The art buying public is increasingly 'time-poor', and so online sales are a natural progression. As a necessary evil, traditional brick and mortar galleries have a limited amount of space on their walls for displaying works of art. In contrast even the smallest and simplest website can easily host thousands of images and pieces of art, making it easier than ever for potential buyers to browse to their heart's content. This also means that buyers no longer need to deal with persistent gallery owners and sales people out to make a commission off of every sale. Instead they can look at as many pieces as they like over a relaxing cup of coffee!

Many artists have their own websites where they sell art online. Most of them start off on this venture with an attitude of "If I build it, they will come" and unfortunately this is not quite the way this business works. Helping potential customers find your website can be quite the challenge, but fortunately marketing yourself online is something that you can learn how to do. Making your personal website stand out amongst the crowd of millions of other websites on the internet is a tall order and not something that many people want to try to do because it can be difficult and time-consuming. Since many art buyers don't have the time or the inclination to try to look through dozens of personal portfolios and websites, you might be wondering how exactly you can sell art online and find an interested buyer?

Over the last few years a lot of online galleries and artist portals have appeared, and they have been enormously successful in helping people to sell art online that they have created.. While some are set up to charge a commission like many traditional on the ground galleries, others are funded by membership fees or a flat rate per sale. There is a huge variety of sales models, but with each comes a different degree of quality control, another major concern for artists and buyers alike.

A primary consideration for an artist who wants to sell art online is the quality of other work for sale on the site you want to join. Some sites have no selection or screening process at all which means anyone in the world can call themselves an artist, and this is not necessarily the kind of visibility to you want if you are going to be a serious artist and make a career in the industry. Without a solid submission or selection process, many sites quickly get overwhelmed with pieces of work and it can become difficult for buyers to browse the site to find quality pieces.

So what are the other options? There are a number of options available to those artists and buyers seeking a refreshing new experience with an online art gallery. Few galleries, like ours, are unique because they allow buyers to interact directly with artists and charges 0% commission on sales made through their websites. The prospect of saving as much as 50% - 60% on the purchase of a piece of art is a very attractive one to buyers looking for that perfect price for their home or office. many buyers dislike having to pay steep commissions to traditional on the ground galleries, and online galleries are leading the pack in creating a new trend in the art market.

A cautionary reminder for artists who want to sell art online; be careful of where and how you market your work. The old saying that 'the message is the medium' is very true in this situation. Of course you want to generate visibility for your work and attract potential buyers, just take care to ensure that it is the right kind of visibility. Pay attention to the details as you research ways to market yourself effectively, and look at sites where you might consider hosting your work. We hope you found this article useful. Read More...

Top 10 Most Famous Artists in History

No two people will agree on the top ten most famous and influential artists, since every person has his or her own view of what type of painting is the most articulate. Every art lover sees each painting in their own way, so that any list is purely subjective. Here is a compilation that will cover some of the most famous artists:

1. Pablo Picasso is widely accepted as the most influential artist of his time, with a unique style and an ambitious attitude. It is widely believed that he surpassed the masters who came before him, and he defined the concept of art as it would be known.

2. The "Mona Lisa" secured Leonardo da Vinci as the creator of the painting that is more well-known than any other. Others have often attempted to imitate his style and stroke, with no success. He was an artist and a humanist.

3. Vincent van Gogh is one of the most famous names in any study of art. He suffered a great deal in his life, and his paintings reflect the pain with their personal look. He was a great influence on the painters of the twentieth century.

4. Claude Monet has sometimes been overlooked by art lovers, who see simple beauty but little else in his works. His work showed complex technique but he wanted the works only to be loved and not necessarily understood.

5. Michelangelo Buonarroti actually thought of himself as a sculptor, although he was among the top artists of all time. He will forever be known by his painting in the Sistine Chapel, and that work alone deems that he is included in any top ten artist list.

6. Rembrandt van Rijn used shadows and light to express a lot of his own personal experiences. He was one of the main faces of European painting in the 17th century. He painted one of the most remarkable self-portraits.

7. Jackson Pollock is a very modern artist in this group of older masters. He was the main artist in American Abstract works, and his "drip" paintings are said to be truly emblematic of his most popular style.

8. Henri Matisse stands behind only Picasso as the master of 20th century painting. He used a purity in color in many of his works, and it is believed to have influenced many artists who came after him.

9. Paul Cezanne was called "the father of us all" by either Matisse or Picasso (it has been, over time, attributed to both of them). He painted during the same time span as Impressionist artists, but he left them behind and developed an entirely new painting style that had never been seen before.

10. Paul Gauguin is quite a fascinating artist, as they all tended to be, to one degree or another. He began with works of Impressionism, but he soon abandoned that for vigorous and colorful works, like his Polynesian paintings. If you are an art aficionado, you would never be able to understand Fauvism and Matisse without first understanding Gauguin's works.

This top 10 list of famous artists as stated before is subjective as many fine masters could also be included in this list. Write down your own list and see how it compares. Read More...

Modern Canvas Art

A piece of 'modern' canvas art is a painting that pertains to a certain category that generally uses structured lines, geometric designs and color variations on canvas to create art. Typically, there are no standard colors or a standard color palate that is used in modern canvas art, which is actually one of the defining characteristic of the genre. Modern canvas art is incredibly flexible both in substance and in style and can make a bold statement or a more subtle one, depending on the artist's intention.

Hand-Painted Canvas Art Vs. Giclee Canvas.

The essential difference between a Giclee canvas work and an original is that a Giclee is a print created on an ink-jet or IRIS printer. They are generally less expensive than an original, but lack the quality texture and feeling of a hand-painted work of modern art. Canvas comes in a variety of textures that can add to any work created on it. When regarding almost any piece of modern art, the color, feeling and design is always crucial. For a piece of modern canvas art to be truly breathtaking, it must be both simple in design, yet project an air of quality and elegance. A print, whether on paper or canvas will simply not be able to achieve the same level of quality. The best part is that acquiring a quality piece of original modern art does not have to be incredibly expensive. Currently there is a huge range of artists out there that will re-create a popular painting of theirs several times. A great original piece of modern canvas art can range in price from $100-$3000, so there is something for every price range. Occasionally you will even find that diamond in the rough...an up and coming artist with impeccable talent and taste who is selling their first painting at an inexpensive price. If you can develop a relationship with them early, you will be guaranteed a good price later on when their work's price tag increases. For those who are on a tight budget Giclee is a good way to go. It still adds a great deal of style to any room and has no limits (usually) on size and the style or idea that goes on the canvas. Giclee can be cheaper than an original hand-painted art work. There are many places on the web where you can find Giclee reproductions of famous artist works, while the original can be tiresomely hard to locate. Read More...

Top Ten Most Popular Christian Art Prints

Christian Art can encompass a multitude of creations. There is no way to pick the best, however, the following 10 offerings are varied forms of Christian Art. Some of these pieces are quite profound, some are simple others multifaceted - combining the modern with the ancient. This list is only an artistic impression and opinion and a minuscule part of the great collections of Christian Art. The order in which they are given is not necessarily of importance.

The Body of Christ - Danny Hahlbohm
This is an extraordinary rendition of what Christ is. A body composed of the gathering of souls from every walk-of-life are encompassed within one magnificent spirit, portraying the accumulation of souls making up the superlative Body of Christ.

Gethsemane - A Print
A print depicting Christ getting comforted by an Angel, having a significant impact that relates to how Angels hold a significant role in the caring and comforting of souls, no matter what role you play in this life.

Stairway to Heaven - Jim Warren
A modern rendition of an important route to the heavens and what awaits you there. This simplistic piece of art leads you to wonder what exactly is at the top of that beautiful stairway. It's natural beginnings from ocean to sky and the promise of what could be there. Just follow the dove that awaits at the bottom of the stairway.

Footprints
Probably among the most profound Christian pieces of art ever produced. The single trail of footprints portraying person that needs help and is supported by that invisible substantiation though only one set of footprints are visible, and the words that accompany this art speak volumes, it is an extremely positive and popular portrayal of Christian Art.

The Last Supper - Gebhard Fugel
Of all the various paintings of this most famous subject, The Last Supper by Gebhard Fugel, offers an un-glorified rendition, indicating that in fact, glory, gold and richness were not necessarily present when the Last Supper took place.

Noah's Ark - Edward Hicks
This is a superb painting of Noah's Ark. Having been instructed to do so by God Noah built an ark in order to save all the animals. The arc is a realistic size, enough to house the animals as they file in two by two. The more you look the more detail you find and this artist captured the story perfectly.

The Head of God - Michelangelo Buonarroti
Isn't God supposed to be full of strength, enough to carry the Universe? Well, in this painting the strength and power behind the sharp eyes and determined features are depicted perfectly.

The Holy Face - The Volto Santo
This paiting conjures up the sadness and uncertainty of Christ. Crowned with thorns and with pleading eyes and a perplexed frown Christ truly has taken on the sins of the world. his eyes will unquestionably hold your gaze.

Madonna of the Poor - Feruzzi
This could be any time anywhere. A young mother cradling her sleeping baby, a baby that is oblivious to the angry world and sleeps securely within its mothers embrace, not yet aware of the poverty or riches it has been endowed with. Despite the rain the Mother has a definite calmness about her.

Angels, Details of the Sistine Madonna - Raphael
This wonderful portrait of two angels verifies that cherubs are no less mischievous than our own cherubs are. Just trying so hard to look innocent yet, wondering what mischief they can get into next, these two fantastic little angels tell all. Displaying the fact that even artists of the Renaissance had a sense of humour.

These Christian Art choices are simply an artistic opinion about getting away from the normal, very intense and warrior laden pictures depicting Christian Art. There is such a peaceful and spiritual feeling depicted in these paintings. Read More...

How to Paint With Acrylics

Well first of all you are going to have to pick the right kinds of materials such as brushes, paints, stretched canvas etc. You need to buy the right kind of materials and also the best kind of materials. Then you have to buy brushes. Choose brushes that are suitable for acrylic paint, they should be either flat or round. Try buying brushes with natural hair, they will do much better in the long run and they will not leave bristles on the canvas. Look around and see if you can find good bargains in your local art supplier store. Again if you don't know what your art supplier store is, just Google Michael's or Joanne and check out their nearest location to your zip code. If you need inspiration or want to look at some sort of example of acrylic or oil art, check out paintings of flowers, abstract art, landscape and fantasy fineart, etc.

Okay now buy some acrylic paints, you also need to know your color wheel generally well before you start. Just know your basics such as yellow and blue make green etc. and you can figure out the rest by doing. Experimenting with colors will take a while but your results will be great in the end. Use good quality paints so the colors on your artwork will be vibrant. Also choose a good canvas. If you want a good piece or art you should probably try and find a stretched canvas that will maintain its look. You can also learn to stretch your own canvas, but that's a huge hassle so just buy one from the store (they're not that expensive especially if you find a good sale).

Decide what to paint. This is the most important part of the process. Again check out the type of original fine art that you like. For inspiration you can also look at some Contemporary Abstract Art Prints. Find a bright place with natural light. It should be somewhere in the basement or outside, a place that you are willing to get messy in. If not put newspapers on the ground but again my suggestion is using a place that you don't mind getting dirty because accidents always happen. Also get a palette or a paper plate (the cheaper way) to mix all your colors as you paint. It's much better to mix them on the plate before you put them on the canvas. Sketch basic main parts of the art work you are thinking of creating. Also start with your background first, paint your sky, wood, fields first before you concentrate on the details (back to front technique). Wait a while for those to dry a bit and then begin on the details (acrylic paints dry much faster than oil). In the end make sure you clean your brushes right away! If not the paint will dry and destroy those brushes. Read More...

Edwin Austin Abbey (1852 - 1911)

Edwin Austin Abbey was an American artist, illustrator, and painter. He flourished at the beginning of what is now referred to as the "golden age" of illustration, and is best known for his drawings and paintings of Shakespearean and Victorian subjects. His most famous work, The Quest of the Holy Grail, resides in the Boston Public Library.

Abbey was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1852. He studied art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under Christian Schuessele. Abbey began as an illustrator, producing numerous illustrations and sketches for such magazines as Harper's Weekly and Scribner's Magazine. His illustrations began appearing in Harper's Weekly at an early age: before Abbey was twenty years old. Abbey was an illustrator with Harper's Weekly from 1871-1874. He moved to England in 1878 where he was made a full member of the Royal Academy in 1898. In 1902 he was chosen to paint the coronation of King Edward VII. It was the official painting of the occasion and, hence, resides at Buckingham Palace. In 1907 he declined an offer of knighthood in order to retain his U.S. citizenship. Friendly with other expatriate American artists, he summered at Broadway, Worcestershire, England, where he painted and vacationed alongside John Singer Sargent at the home of Francis Davis Millet.

He completed murals for the Boston Public Library in the 1890s. The frieze for the Library was titled "The Quest for the Holy Grail." It took Abbey eleven years to complete this series of murals in his England studio. In 1908-1909, Abbey painted a number of murals and other artworks for the rotunda of the new Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. His works in that building include allegorical medallions representing Science, Art, Justice, and Religion in the Capitol Rotunda, large lunette murals underneath the Capitol dome, and a number of works in the House Chamber. Unfortunately, Abbey became ill with cancer in 1911 slowing his work. At the time, he was working on the "Reading of the Declaration of Independence Mural" which was later installed in the House Chamber.

Abbey was so ill, that his studio assistant, Ernest Board completed the work with little supervision from Abbey. Later in 1911, Abbey died, leaving his commission for the State Capitol of Pennsylvania unfinished.
Abbey was elected to the National Academy of Design and The American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1937 Yale University became the home for a sizable collection of Abbey's works, the result of a bequest from Abbey's widow. Read More...

Mannerism

Mannerism is a period of European art that emerged from the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520. It lasted until about 1580 in Italy, when a more Baroque style began to replace it, but Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century throughout much of Europe. Stylistically, Mannerism encompasses a variety of approaches influenced by, and reacting to, the harmonious ideals and restrained naturalism associated with artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and early Michelangelo. Mannerism is notable for its intellectual sophistication as well as its artificial (as opposed to naturalistic) qualities.

The definition of Mannerism, and the phases within it, continue to be the subject of debate among art historians. For example, some scholars have applied the label to certain early modern forms of literature (especially poetry) and music of the 16th and 17th centuries. The term is also used to refer to some Late Gothic painters working in northern Europe from about 1500 to 1530, especially the Antwerp Mannerists-a group unrelated to the Italian movement. Mannerism also has been applied by analogy to the Silver Age of Latin.

The word mannerism derives from the Italian maniera, meaning "style" or "manner". Like the English word "style," maniera can either be used to indicate a specific type of style (a beautiful style, an abrasive style), or maniera can be used to indicate an absolute that needs no qualification (someone ‘has style'). In the second edition of his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects (1568), Giorgio Vasari used maniera in three different contexts: to discuss an artist's manner or method of working, to describe a personal or group style, such as the term maniera greca to refer to the Byzantine style or simply to the maniera of Michelangelo, and to affirm a positive judgment of artistic quality. Vasari was also a Mannerist artist, and he described the period in which he worked as "la maniera moderna", or the "modern style".

As a stylistic label, "Mannerism" is not easily pigeonholed. It was used by Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt and popularized by German art historians in the early 20th century to categorize the seemingly uncategorizable art of the Italian 16th century - art that was no longer perceived to exhibit the harmonious and rational approaches associated with the High Renaissance. "High Renaissance" suggested a period of harmony, grandeur and the revival of classical antiquity and the term was redefined in 1967 by John Shearman. The label "Mannerism" was used during the 16th century to comment on social behaviour and to convey a refined virtuoso quality or to signify a certain technique.

However for later writers, such as the 17th-century Gian Pietro Bellori, "la maniera" was a derogatory term for the decline of art after Raphael, especially in the 1530s and 1540s. From the late 19th-century on, art historians have commonly used the term to describe art that follows Renaissance classicism and precedes the Baroque. Yet historians differ in opinion, as to whether Mannerism is a style, a movement, or a period, and while the term remains controversial it is commonly used to identify European art and culture of the 16th century.

Depending on the historical account, Mannerism developed between 1510 and 1520 in either Florence, Rome, or both cities. The early Mannerists in Florence-especially the students of Andrea del Sarto: Jacopo da Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino-are notable for elongated forms, precariously balanced poses, a collapsed perspective, irrational settings, and theatrical lighting. Parmigianino, a student of Correggio, and Giulio Romano, Raphael's head assistant were moving in similarly stylized aesthetic directions in Rome. These artists had matured under the influence of the High Renaissance, and their style has been characterized as a reaction or exaggerated extension of it. Instead of studying nature directly, younger artists began studying Hellenistic sculptures and paintings of masters past. Therefore, this style is often identified as "anti-classical". Yet at the time it was considered a natural progression from the High c. The earliest experimental phase of Mannerism, known for its "anti-classical" forms, lasted until about 1540 or 1550. Marcia Hall notes in her book 'After Raphael's premature death marked the beginning of Mannerism in Rome.

Michelangelo was one of the great creative exponents of Mannerism and it was his style which raised the standard of art to a new level. His varied Ignudi painted in distinctive positions on the Sistine Chapel ceiling could have been influenced by the "Belvedere Torso" and which influenced other painters.

Raphael's "Lo Spasimo di Sicilia" depicts an event in Christian history when Christ falls while carrying the cross, sees his mother in distress and is helped up by Simon of Cyrene. The composition is linked by the diagonals of the soldiers' spears and the wooden cross. Unusually, Christ cannot be singled out immediately amongst the gathering figures in the foreground, whereas Simon stands out quite prominently. The spectator's eyes look down the composition to the drama and charge of the narrative.

The competitive spirit which was spurred on by the patrons encouraged the artists to show off their virtuoso painting. When in Florence Leonardo and Michelangelo were each given a commission by Gonfaloniere Piero Soderini to decorate a wall in the "Hall of Five Hundred". These two artists were set to paint side by side and compete against each other fueling the incentive of being as innovative as possible. Later on in Rome Raphael was commissioned to paint "The Transfiguration" by Cardinal Gioulio di Medici who had been appointed as arch bishop of Narbonne in the south of France. At this time Raphael was also busy painting the Stanze, various altarpieces, painting versions of Madonna and child and being the principal architect in Rome after the death of Bramante which gave him little time to do "The Transfiguration". Therefore the cardinal commissioned Sebastiano del Piombo who was great Venetian colourist and a friend of Michelangelo to paint "The Raising of Lazarus". This spurred Raphael on to complete the commission.

This period has been described as both a natural extension of the art of Andrea del Sarto, Michelangelo, and Raphael, as well as a decline of those same artists' classicizing achievements. In past analyses, it has been noted that mannerism arose in the early 1500s alongside a number of other social, scientific, religious and political movements such as the Copernican model, the Sack of Rome, and the Protestant Reformation's increasing challenge to the power of the Catholic church. Because of this, the style's elongated forms and distorted forms were once interpreted as a reaction to the idealized compositions prevalent in High art. This explanation for the radical stylistic shift c. 1520 has fallen out of scholarly favor, though the early Mannerists are still set in stark contrast to High Renaissance conventions, the immediacy and balance achieved by Raphael's School of Athens, no longer seemed interesting to young artists. Indeed, Michelangelo himself displayed tendencies towards Mannerism, notably in his vestibule to the Laurentian Library, in the figures on his Medici tombs, and above all in his Last Judgment.

The second period of Mannerism is commonly differentiated from the earlier, so-called "anti-classical" phase.

Subsequent mannerists stressed intellectual conceits and artistic virtuosity, features that have led later critics to accuse them of working in an unnatural and affected "manner" (maniera). Maniera artists held their elder contemporary Michelangelo as their prime example, theirs was an art imitating art, rather than an art imitating nature. Freedberg argues that the intellectualizing aspect of maniera art comes in the artist expecting his audience to notice and understand this visual reference, the familiar figure in an unfamiliar setting surrounded by "unseen, but felt, quotation marks." The supreme artifice comes in the Maniera painter's love of deliberately mis-appropriating a quotation, for example Bronzino including the figure of a woman after the Medici Venus (similar to the one illustrated at right) in a religious picture depicting Christ's resurrection. Agnolo Bronzino and Giorgio Vasari exemplify this strain of Maniera that lasted from about 1530 to 1580. Based largely at courts and in intellectual circles around Europe, Maniera art couples exaggerated elegance with exquisite attention to surface and detail: porcelain-skinned figures recline in an even, tempered light, regarding the viewer with a cool glance, if at all. The Maniera subject rarely displays an excess of emotion, and for this reason are often interpreted as 'cold' or 'aloof,' and is often called the "stylish" style or the Maniera.

Mannerist centers in Italy were Rome, Florence and Mantua. Venetian painting, in its separate "school," pursued a separate course, represented in the long career of Titian. A number of the earliest Mannerist artists who had been working in Rome during the 1520s fled the city after the Sack of Rome in 1527. As they spread out across the continent in search of employment, their style was distributed throughout Italy and Europe. The result was the first international artistic style since the Gothic. The style waned in Italy after 1580, as a new generation of artists, including the Carracci brothers, Caravaggio and Cigoli, reemphasized naturalism. Walter Friedlaender identified this period as "anti-mannerism", just as the early mannerists were "anti-classical" in their reaction to the High Renaissance. Read More...

Medieval & Gothic Art

The medieval art of the Western world covers a vast scope of time and place, over 1000 years of art history in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. It includes major art movements and periods, national and regional art, genres, revivals, the artists crafts, and the artists themselves.

Art historians attempt to classify medieval art into major periods and styles, often with some difficulty. A generally accepted scheme includes Early Christian art, Migration Period art, Byzantine art, Insular art, Pre-Romanesque and Romanesque art, and Gothic art, as well as many other periods within these central styles. In addition each region, mostly during the period in the process of becoming nations or cultures, had its own distinct artistic style, such as Anglo-Saxon art or Norse art.

Medieval art was produced in many media, and the works that remain in large numbers include sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, stained glass, metalwork and mosaics, all of which have had a higher survival rate than other media like fresco wall-paintings, work in precious metals or textiles, including tapestry. Especially in the early part of the period, works in the so-called "minor arts" or decorative arts, such as metalwork, ivory carving, enamel and embroidery using precious metals, were probably more highly valued than paintings or monumental sculpture.

Medieval art in Europe grew out of the artistic heritage of the Roman Empire and the iconographic traditions of the early Christian church. These sources were mixed with the vigorous "Barbarian" artistic culture of Northern Europe to produce a remarkable artistic legacy. Indeed the history of medieval art can be seen as the history of the interplay between the elements of classical, early Christian and "barbarian" art. Apart from the formal aspects of classicism, there was a continuous tradition of realistic depiction of objects that survived in Byzantine art throughout the period, while in the West it appears intermittently, combining and sometimes competing with new expressionist possibilities developed in Western Europe and the Northern legacy of energetic decorative elements. The period ended with the self-perceived Renaissance recovery of the skills and values of classical art, and the artistic legacy of the Middle Ages was then disparaged for some centuries. Since a revival of interest and understanding in the 19th century it has been seen as a period of enormous achievement that underlies the development of later Western art.

Gothic art was a Medieval art movement that developed in France out of Romanesque art in the mid-12th century, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, but took over art more completely north of the Alps, never quite effacing more classical styles in Italy. In the late 14th century, the sophisticated court style of International Gothic developed, which continued to evolve until the late 15th century. In many areas, especially Germany, Late Gothic art continued well into the 16th century, before being subsumed into Renaissance art. Primary media in the Gothic period included sculpture, panel painting, stained glass, fresco and illuminated manuscript. The easily recognisable shifts in architecture from Romanesque to Gothic, and Gothic to Renaissance styles, are typically used to define the periods in art in all media, although in many ways figurative art developed at a different pace.

The earliest Gothic art was monumental sculpture, on the walls of Cathedrals and abbeys. Christian art was often typological in nature (see Medieval allegory), showing the stories of the New Testament and the Old Testament side by side. Saints' lives were often depicted. Images of the Virgin Mary changed from the Byzantine iconic form to a more human and affectionate mother, cuddling her infant, swaying from her hip, and showing the refined manners of a well-born aristocratic courtly lady.

Secular art came in to its own during this period with the rise of cities, foundation of universities, increase in trade, the establishment of a money-based economy and the creation of a bourgeois class who could afford to patronize the arts and commission works resulting in a proliferation of paintings and illuminated manuscripts. Increased literacy and a growing body of secular vernacular literature encouraged the representation of secular themes in art. With the growth of cities, trade guilds were formed and artists were often required to be members of a painters' guild—as a result, because of better record keeping, more artists are known to us by name in this period than any previous; some artists were even so bold as to sign their names.

Painting in a style that can be called "Gothic" did not appear until about 1200, or nearly 50 years after the start of Gothic architecture and sculpture. The transition from Romanesque to Gothic is very imprecise and not at all a clear break, and Gothic ornamental detailing is often introduced before much change is seen in the style of figures or compositions themselves. Then figures become more animated in pose and facial expression, tend to be smaller in relation to the background of scenes, and are arranged more freely in the pictorial space, where there is room. This transition occurs first in England and France around 1200, in Germany around 1220 and Italy around 1300.

Painting during the Gothic period was practiced in 4 primary crafts: frescos, panel paintings, manuscript illumination and stained glass. Frescoes continued to be used as the main pictorial narrative craft on church walls in southern Europe as a continuation of early Christian and Romanesque traditions. In the north stained glass was the art of choice until the 15th century. Panel paintings began in Italy in the 13th century and spread throughout Europe, so by the 15th century they had become the dominate form supplanting even stained glass. Illuminated manuscripts represent the most complete record of Gothic painting, providing a record of styles in places where no monumental works have otherwise survived. Painting with oil on canvas did not become popular until the 15th and 16th centuries and was a hallmark of Renaissance art.

In Northern Europe the important and innovative school of Early Netherlandish painting is in an essentially Gothic style, but can also be regarded as part of the Northern Renaissance, as there was a long delay before the Italian revival of interest in classicism had a great impact in the north. Painters like Robert Campin and Jan van Eyck, made use of the technique of oil painting to create minutely detailed works, correct in perspective, where apparent realism was combined with richly complex symbolism arising precisely from the realistic detail they could now include, even in small works. Read More...

Pre-Raphaelites

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (also known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The three founders were soon joined by William Michael Rossetti, James Collinson, Frederic George Stephens and Thomas Woolner to form a seven member "brotherhood".

The group's intention was to reform art by rejecting what they considered to be the mechanistic approach first adopted by the Mannerist artists who succeeded Raphael and Michelangelo. They believed that the Classical poses and elegant compositions of Raphael in particular had been a corrupting influence on the academic teaching of art. Hence the name "Pre-Raphaelite". In particular, they objected to the influence of Sir Joshua Reynolds, the founder of the English Royal Academy of Arts. They called him "Sir Sloshua", believing that his broad technique was a sloppy and formulaic form of academic Mannerism. In contrast, they wanted to return to the abundant detail, intense colours, and complex compositions of Quattrocento Italian and Flemish art.

The Pre-Raphaelites have been considered the first avant-garde movement in art, though they have also been denied that status, because they continued to accept both the concepts of history painting and of mimesis, or imitation of nature, as central to the purpose of art. However, the Pre-Raphaelites undoubtedly defined themselves as a reform-movement, created a distinct name for their form of art, and published a periodical, The Germ, to promote their ideas. Their debates were recorded in the Pre-Raphaelite Journal.

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was founded in John Millais's parents' house on Gower Street, London in 1848. At the initial meeting, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and William Holman Hunt were present. Hunt and Millais were students at the Royal Academy of Arts. They had previously met in another loose association, a sketching-society called the Cyclographic Club. Rossetti was a pupil of Ford Madox Brown. He had met Hunt after seeing his painting The Eve of St. Agnes, which is based on Keats's poem. As an aspiring poet, Rossetti wished to develop the links between Romantic poetry and art. By autumn, four more members had also joined, to form a seven-member-strong Brotherhood. These were William Michael Rossetti (Dante Gabriel Rossetti's brother), Thomas Woolner, James Collinson, and Frederic George Stephens. Ford Madox Brown was invited to join, but preferred to remain independent. He nevertheless remained close to the group. Some other young painters and sculptors were also close associates, including Charles Allston Collins, Thomas Tupper, and Alexander Munro. They kept the existence of the Brotherhood secret from members of the Royal Academy.

The Brotherhood's early doctrines were expressed in four declarations:

1. To have genuine ideas to express;
2. To study Nature attentively, so as to know how to express them;
3. To sympathise with what is direct and serious and heartfelt in previous art, to the exclusion of what is conventional and self-parodying and learned by rote;
4. And, most indispensable of all, to produce thoroughly good pictures and statues.

These principles are deliberately non-dogmatic, since the Brotherhood wished to emphasise the personal responsibility of individual artists to determine their own ideas and methods of depiction. Influenced by Romanticism, they thought that freedom and responsibility were inseparable. Nevertheless, they were particularly fascinated by medieval culture, believing it to possess a spiritual and creative integrity that had been lost in later eras. This emphasis on medieval culture was to clash with certain principles of realism, which stress the independent observation of nature. In its early stages, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood believed that their two interests were consistent with one another, but in later years the movement divided and began to move in two directions. The realist-side was led by Hunt and Millais, while the medievalist-side was led by Rossetti and his followers, Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris. This split was never absolute, since both factions believed that art was essentially spiritual in character, opposing their idealism to the materialist realism associated with Courbet and Impressionism.

In their attempts to revive the brilliance of colour found in Quattrocento art, Hunt and Millais developed a technique of painting in thin glazes of pigment over a wet white ground. They hoped that in this way their colours would retain jewel-like transparency and clarity. This emphasis on brilliance of colour was in reaction to the excessive use of bitumen by earlier British artists, such as Reynolds, David Wilkie and Benjamin Robert Haydon. Bitumen produces unstable areas of muddy darkness, an effect that the Pre-Raphaelites despised.

The first exhibition of Pre-Raphaelite work occurred in 1849. Both Millaiss's Isabella (1848-1849) and Holman Hunt's Rienzi (1848-1849) were exhibited at the Royal Academy, and Rossetti's Girlhood of Mary Virgin was shown at the Free Exhibition on Hyde Park Corner. As agreed, all members of the Brotherhood signed works with their name and the initials "PRB". Between January and April 1850, the group published a literary magazine, The Germ. William Rossetti edited the magazine, which published poetry by the Rossettis, Woolner, and Collinson, together with essays on art and literature by associates of the Brotherhood, such as Coventry Patmore. As the short run-time implies, the magazine did not manage to achieve a sustained momentum. (Daly 1989)

In 1850 the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood became controversial after the exhibition of Millais's painting Christ In The House Of His Parents, considered to be blasphemous by many reviewers, notably Charles Dickens (Dickens considered Millais' Mary to be ugly. Interestingly enough, Millais had actually used his sister-in-law Mary Hodgkinson as a model for the Mary in his painting). Their medievalism was attacked as backward-looking and their extreme devotion to detail was condemned as ugly and jarring to the eye. According to Dickens, Millais made the Holy Family look like alcoholics and slum-dwellers, adopting contorted and absurd "medieval" poses. A rival group of older artists, The Clique, also used their influence against the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Their principles were publicly attacked by the President of the Academy, Sir Charles Lock Eastlake.

However, the Brotherhood found support from the critic John Ruskin, who praised their devotion to nature and rejection of conventional methods of composition. He continued to support their work both financially and in his writings.

Following the controversy, James Collinson left the Brotherhood. They met to discuss whether he should be replaced by Charles Allston Collins or Walter Howell Deverell, but were unable to make a decision. From that point on the group disbanded, though their influence continued to be felt. Artists who had worked in the style still followed these techniques (initially anyway) but they no longer signed works "PRB".

Artists who were influenced by the Brotherhood include John Brett, Philip Calderon, Arthur Hughes, Gustave Moreau, Evelyn De Morgan, Frederic Sandys and John William Waterhouse. Ford Madox Brown, who was associated with them from the beginning, is often seen as most closely adopting the Pre-Raphaelite principles.

After 1856, Rossetti became an inspiration for the medievalising strand of the movement. His work influenced his friend William Morris, in whose firm Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. he became a partner, and with whose wife Jane he may have had an affair. Ford Madox Brown and Edward Burne-Jones also became partners in the firm. Through Morris's company the ideals of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood influenced many interior designers and architects, arousing interest in medieval designs, as well as other crafts. This led directly to the Arts and Crafts movement headed by William Morris. Holman Hunt was also involved with this movement to reform design through the Della Robbia Pottery company.

After 1850, both Hunt and Millais moved away from direct imitation of medieval art. Both stressed the realist and scientific aspects of the movement, though Hunt continued to emphasise the spiritual significance of art, seeking to reconcile religion and science by making accurate observations and studies of locations in Egypt and Palestine for his paintings on biblical subjects. In contrast, Millais abandoned Pre-Raphaelitism after 1860, adopting a much broader and looser style influenced by Reynolds. William Morris and others condemned this reversal of principles.

The movement influenced the work of many later British artists well into the twentieth century. Rossetti later came to be seen as a precursor of the wider European Symbolist movement. In the late twentieth century the Brotherhood of Ruralists based its aims on Pre-Raphaelitism, while the Stuckists and the Birmingham Group have also have derived inspiration from it.

The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery has a world-renowned collection of works by Burne-Jones and the Pre-Raphaelites that, some claim, strongly influenced the young J.R.R. Tolkien, who would later go on to write his novels, such as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, with their influence taken from the same mythological scenes portrayed by the Pre-Raphaelites.

In the twentieth century artistic ideals changed and art moved away from representing reality. Since the Pre-Raphaelites were fixed on portraying things with near-photographic precision, though with a distinctive attention to detailed surface-patterns, their work was devalued by many critics. Since the 1970s there has been a resurgence in interest in the movement. Read More...

Nabis

Les Nabis (pronounced nah bee) were a group of Post-Impressionist avant-garde artists who set the pace for fine arts and graphic arts in France in the 1890s. Initially a group of friends interested in contemporary art and literature, most of them studied at the private art school of Rodolphe Julian (Academie Julian) in Paris in the late 1880s.

In 1890, they began to successfully participate in public exhibitions, while most of their artistic output remained in private hands or in the possession of the artists themselves. By 1896, the unity of the group had already begun to break: The Hommage a Cezanne, painted by Maurice Denis in 1900, recollects memories of a time already gone, before even the term Nabis had been revealed to the public. Meanwhile, most members of the group - Maurice Denis, Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard - could stand, artistically, on their own. Only Paul Serusier had problems to overcome-though it was his Talisman, painted at the advice of Paul Gauguin, that had revealed to them the way to go.

Nabi means prophet in Hebrew.

Les Nabis originated as a rebellious group of young student artists who banded together at the Academie Julian . Paul Serusier galvanized Les Nabis, and provided the name and disseminated the example of Paul Gauguin among them. Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard and Maurice Denis became the best known of the group; at the time, however, they were somewhat peripheral to the core group.

The term was coined by the poet Henri Cazalis who drew a parallel between the way these painters aimed to revitalize painting and the way the ancient prophets had rejuvenated Israel. Possibly the nickname arose because "most of them wore beards, some were Jews and all were desperately earnest".

Les Nabis regarded themselves as initiates, and used a private vocabulary. They called a studio ergasterium, and ended their letters with the initials E.T.P.M.V. et M.P., meaning "En ta paume, mon verbe et ma paume" ("In the palm of your hand, my word and my palm.") Orientalism refers to the Orient or East, in contrast to the Occident or West.

Meeting at Academie Julian, and then at the apartment of Paul Ranson, they preached that a work of art is the end product and the visual expression of an artist's synthesis of nature in personal aesthetic metaphors and symbols. They paved the way for the early 20th century development of abstract and non-representational art. The goal of integrating art and daily life, was a goal they had in common with most progressive artists of the time.

Les Nabis artists worked in a variety of media, using oils on both canvas and cardboard, distemper on canvas and wall decoration, and also produced posters, prints, book illustration, textiles and furniture. Considered to be on the cutting edge of modern art during their early period, their subject matter was representational (though often symbolist in inspiration), but was design oriented along the lines of the Japanese prints they so admired, and art nouveau. Unlike those types however, the artists of this circle were highly influenced by the paintings of the impressionists, and thus while sharing the flatness, page layout and negative space of art nouveau and other decorative modes, much of Nabis art has a painterly, non-realistic look, with color palettes often reminding one of Cezanne and Gauguin. Pierre Bonnard's posters and lithographs are more firmly in the art nouveau, or Toulouse-Lautrec manner.

After the turn of the century, as modern art moved towards abstraction, expressionism, cubism, etc, the Nabis were viewed as conservatives, and indeed were among the last group of artists to stick to the roots and artistic ambitions of the impressionists, pursuing these ends almost into the middle of the 20th century. In their later years, these painters also largely abandoned their earlier interests in decorative and applied arts.

Among the artists who considered themselves Nabis was Maurice Denis, whose journalism put the aims of the group in the eye of a progressive audience, and whose definition of painting - "a flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order" - expressed the Nabis approach. His Theories (1920; 1922) summed up the Nabis' aims long after they had been superseded by the fauve painters and by cubism.

Other Nabis were Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard, Ker-Xavier Roussel, Paul Ranson and Felix Vallotton. The sculptor Aristide Maillol was associated for a time with the group. The Post-Impressionist styles they embraced skirted some aspects of contemporary art nouveau and Symbolism. The influence of the English Arts and Crafts Movement set them to work in media that involved crafts beyond painting: printmaking, book illustration and poster design, textiles and set design. Read More...

Group of Seven

Early in the 1910's casual group of Canadian painters began to paint Canadian wilderness landscape as they saw it. They journeyed all over the country to paint the waste with bold colors and a broad, decorative style. They socialized together around the group's sponsor and mentor Tom Thomson at the Arts and Letters Club in Toronto. It was a common meeting place for the artists.

During the spring of 1917, tragedy struck the group as Tom Thomson drowned in Algonquin Park's Canoe Lake under suspicious circumstances. This tragedy shocked the Group.

They formerly didn't call themselves the Group of Seven until their first exhibit in 1920. At the time they were seven: J.E.H. MacDonald, Arthur Lismer, Frederick Varley, Frank Johnston and Franklin Carmichael, A. Y. Jackson and Lawren S. Harris. They were not limited to the seven founding members, and they eventually changed their name to the Canadian Group of Painters.

Group of Seven artists were both strongly influenced by Post-Impressionism in France and Scandinavian art of North. They were creating bold, vividly-colored canvases, and instilling elements of the landscape with symbolic meaning. Read More...

Academic Classicism

Academic Classicism is the painting style established by European art academies and universities. In general It is also called "academic art". In this context as new styles are embraced by academics, the new styles come to be considered academic, thus what was at one time a rebellion against academic art becomes academic art. The academic art world also worshiped Raphael, for the splendor of his work. This style is often termed "art pompier", "academism", "academicism", "classical revival", "beaux-arts classicism" and "eclecticism".

The followers of Classicism appreciated and imitated Greek and Roman literature, art, and architecture. Classicism is a late form of Neoclassicism, with a distinctly original elegance. Often linked with "historicism" and "syncretism".

Followers of this movement were influenced by the high standards of the French Academie des Beaux-Arts, which practiced under the movements of Neoclassicism and Romanticism. Academic Classicism attempted to merge both techniques to create the perfect style. It is characterized by adhering to a strict manner of painting, following narrow compositional rules and delicacy of color. The atmospheric effects are sumptuously luminescent. According to art historian, Walter Pater "To produce such effects at all requires all the resources of painting, with its power of indirect expression, of subordinate but significant detail, its atmosphere, its foregrounds and backgrounds."

Subject matter often used in Rococo art such as light hearted frivolity of the upper classes was fashionable once again. This style favored interpretations of Greek, Roman and Renaissance themes. Imagery often centered around Biblical stories, Arthurian legends and mythology. According to Solomon Gessner, the great German painter and art historian, "By studying the works of Greek sculptors the painter can attain the sublimest conceptions of beauty, and learn what must be added to nature in order to give to the imitation dignity and propriety.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: German poet, playwright, novelist, and philosopher argued that Greek art was an absolutely exemplary model from which a fixed canon determinative for the artists of all times could be derived; and that the composition of pictures should correspond strictly with the style of antiquity.

Masters of Academic Classicism, William Bouguereau, Paul Delaroche and Jean-Leon Gerome, had an extraordinary way of capturing nature's tempestuous, "feral" qualities and yet, at the same time, create in the viewer an almost inspirational feeling of harmony and serenity. High drama, blithe sophistication, and unrequited passion characterize this magnificent painting style. Read More...

Kinetic Art

Kinetic art explores how things look when they move and refers mostly to sculptured works, made up of parts designed to be set in motion by an internal mechanism or an external stimulus, such as light or air. The movement is not virtual or illusory, but a real movement that might be created by a motor, water, wind or even a button pushed by the viewer. Over time, kinetic art developed in response to an increasingly technological culture.

The Kinetic art form was pioneered by Marcel Duchamp, Naum Gabo, and Alexander Calder. Among the earliest attempts to incorporate movement in a plastic artwork were Moholy-Nagy's Space-Light Modulator, a sculpture producing moving shadows made at the Bauhaus between 1922 and 1930, certain Constructivists works, Marcel Duchamp's Rotary Glass Plate and Rotary Demisphere (Precision Optics), and Alexander Calder's motorized sculptures from 1930s.

The expression Kinetic Art was used from the mid-1950s onward. It referred to an international trend followed by artists such as Soto, Takis, Agam and Schoffer. Some Kinetic artists also worked in the field of Op Art. Their works were influenced by a modernist aesthetic and could be made with contemporary materials (e.g., aluminum, plastic, neon). Most kinetic works were moving geometric compositions. In Italy artists belonging to Gruppo N, founded in Padua in 1959 (including Biasi, Costa and Massironi, among others), carried out experiments with light, projections and reflections associated with movement.

The members of the French group GRAV, which included Le Parc, Morellet and Sobrino and was established in 1960's in Paris, created optical and kinetic environments that disturbed and interfered with meanings and relations to space.

The term kineticism broadened the concept of Kinetic Art to all artistic works involving movement, without any reference to a specific aesthetics. It applies to all those artists today who w Read More...

Art Brut

Art Brut ("Raw Art" or "Rough Art" in French) is a label created by French painter Jean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture. Dubuffet focused particularly on the art of the insane. The English term "Outsider Art", which is synonym for the Art Brut, is often applied more broadly, to include certain works of non-professional artists, who intentionally or not had created original art uninfluenced by the canon.

Interest in the art of insane asylum inmates had begun to grow in the 1920s. In 1921 Dr. Walter Morgenthaler published his monograph about Adolf Wölfli, a psychotic mental patient in his care. Wölfi had spontaneously taken up drawing, and this activity seemed to calm him. His most outstanding work is an illustrated epic of 45 volumes in which he narrates his own imaginary life story. With 25000 pages, 1600 illustrations, and 1500 collages it is a monumental work.

Dubuffet was particularly struck by Dr. Morgenthaler's publication and began his own collection of such art, which he called Art Brut or Raw Art. In 1948 he formed the Compagnie de l'Art Brut along with other artists including André Breton. The collection he established became known as the Collection de l'Art Brut. It contains thousands of works and is now permanently housed in Lausanne.

Dubuffet characterized Art Brut as: "Those works created from solitude and from pure and authentic creative impulses - where the worries of competition, acclaim and social promotion do not interfere - are, because of these very facts, more precious than the productions of professions. After a certain familiarity with these flourishing of an exalted feverishness, live so fully and so intensely by their authors, we cannot avoid the feeling that in relation to these works, cultural art in its entirety appears to be the game of a futile society, a fallacious parade."

Dubuffet argued that 'culture' that is mainstream culture, managed to assimilate every new development in art, and by doing so took away whatever power it might have had. The result was to asphyxiate genuine expression. Art Brut was his solution to this problem - only Art Brut was immune to the influences of culture, immune to being absorbed and assimilated, because the artists themselves were not willing or able to be assimilated. Read More...

Art Informel

After WWII painters contemplated the legacy of geometric abstraction characterized in the early 20th century developments (through Cubism, Futurism, Suprematism, Constructivism and De Stijl) as a load and the cold intellectualism, out of touch with the post WWII reality of poverty and despair. Spontaneity and authenticity were more meaningful to a new generation of artists, then the clarity and functionality of De Stijl and other proponents of geometric abstraction.

From the reaction was born a new painting style which was fully abstract but didn't rely on intellectualist methodology. It was the result of the artist's emotional and physical engagement. The term Art Informel ("formless" art in French) was first used in early1950s by French art critic Michel Tapie to describe the works of an array of famous artists including Jean Dubuffet, Wols, Willem de Kooning, Jean Fautrier and Alberto Burri. It was a definition of a further development of abstraction that was seen as a radical break also with Modernism, toward something wholly "other."

The Informel artist was not interested in trying, at all cost, to have total control over the processes of artistic work. He emphasized spontaneity, irrationality, and freedom of form. He sought out "rebellious" tools and paints, capable of producing things accidental and unexpected. He strove to escape at any price a "prison" of the "well-made" traditional art works.

Lyrical Abstraction movement was contemporary to Art Informel and close with its approach. Some European abstract artists were associated with those both movements. The equivalent on the other side of Atlantic was similar in expressiveness, gesture and innovation - the Abstract Expressionism in America. Read More...

Rococo

A term "Rococo" describes a movement in the arts in the early 18th century, in France. Rococo has been born from the Baroque era, during the age of Enlightenment. That was a time when new ideas about human existence were introduced and Rococo art is the visual representation of the optimism people felt in response to that.

The word "rococo" is derived from "rocaille", meaning "rock work" or "shell work," a favorite motif of the time. It stresses purely ornamental, light, casual, irregular design.

Rococo is seen both as the climax and fall of Baroque art. After the heavy works created in the Baroque style artists were ready for a change. The Rococo manner was a reaction against the"grand manner" of art identified with the baroque formality and rigidity of court life. The movement toward a lighter, more charming manner began in French architectural decoration at the end of Louis XIV's reign (d.1715) and quickly spread across Europe. During the regency of Duke of Orleans, regent for the minor heir Louis XV, the formalities of the court gave way to a more casual and intimate atmosphere. Rococo art portrayed a world of artificiality, make-believe, and game-playing. Although less formal, it was essentially an art of the aristocracy and emphasized what seem now to have been the unreflective and indulgent lifestyles of the aristocracy rather than piety, morality, self-discipline, reason, and heroism (all of which can be found in the baroque).

The Rococo style is characterized by pastel colors, gracefully delicate curving forms, fanciful figures, and a lighthearted mood (visually and physically). The essence of Rococo art is light. Extreme highlights are placed on the subject matter and the overall work is light in color, effect, and emotion. Artists paid special attention to fine detail. Form is characterized by delicacy of color, dynamic compositions, and atmospheric effects.

Antoine Watteau is considered to be one of the first Rococo painters. He often created asymmetrical compositions. This type of aesthetic balance became not only an important part of Rococo art, but of design in general.

Eventually the Rococo art was replaced by the more serious style, Neoclassicism. Critics condemned it as "tasteless, frivolous, and symbolic of a corrupt society". Read More...

How to Paint a Color-Field Painting

As the name would suggest, color is the dominant element of a color-field painting. It's the subject of the painting, and the point of the painting. There isn't anything to worry about "getting" or "understanding", it's about the sheer beauty and impact of color on your sense and emotions.

The "field" part of the name "color-field painting" makes me think of agriculture. Those vast sweeps of grassland or golden wheatlands where the color shifts gently as the wind blows through the crop. The beauty of a color-field painting is similarly in its shimmering shapes of color, the filling of your senses with color as you stand in front of it. Shape for the sake of shape. Color for the sake of color.

"...abstract art does not employ subject matter that is obvious as either the anecdote or familiar objects, yet it must appeal to our experience in some way. Instead of appealing to our sense of the familiar, it simply functions in another category."
-- Color-field Artist Mark Rothko, in his book The Artist's Reality: Philosophies of Art, p80. Read More...

Abstract Painting: Using Nature as a Source for Inspiration

When you’re looking for inspiration for an abstract painting, you need to change the way you look at the world around you. You need to stop seeing the big picture and look for details. To look at the shapes and patterns which occur, rather than focusing on the actual objects.

In this example, my starting point was the trunk of a gum tree, with stones of various colours and sizes packed around it. It had recently rained, so the soil was wet, making it quite dark in colour. The photos will take you step-by-step through my thought processes as I narrow down the potential for an abstract painting.

This first photo shows the overall scene. Look at the photo and think about what you’re seeing. What elements are there, what textures, what colours, and what shapes?

Have you noticed the lovely curves on the two big stones? What about the contrast between the smooth white stone and the coarse texture of the tree bark? And the contrast between the clean white stone and the mud stuck to its underside?

Seeing this kind of detail is the first step in spotting the potential for abstract art in nature. You need to train your eye to see the world anew. Read More...

CoBrA

Cobra was a post-World War II European avant-garde movement. The name was derived from the initials of the members' home cities: Copenhagen, Brussels, and Amsterdam. Copenhagen is the head, Brussels is the body, and Amsterdam is the tail of the Cobra.

The group's founders included Asger Jorn, the Dutch painter Constant, the Belgian poet Christian Dotremont and the painters Pierre Alechinsky, Karel Appel, Corneille and Carl-Henning Pedersen. Later on the group was expanded substantially.

In a Europe devastated by war, artists were eager to join forces, pool their thoughts and react to the inhumanity of a civilization based on reason and science. Cobra had a distinctive political and social dimension based on a criticism of the Cold War society of their day.

Cobra was formed from an amalgamation of the Dutch group Reflex, the Danish group Host and the Belgian Revolutionary Surrealist Group. Their fundamental values were nonconformity and spontaneity. Their inspiration was children's drawings, the alienated and folk art, motifs from Nordic mythology, Marxism. They rejected erudite art and all official art events. They sought to express combination of the Surrealist unconscious with the romantic forces of nature but unlike the former group they felt an abstract idiom better served that purpose. They were primary distinguished by a semiabstract expressive paintings style with brilliant color, violent brushwork, and distorted human figures.

Cobra was a milestone in the development of European Abstract Expressionism and was very similar to American Action Painting. Read More...

Art of Aegean Bronze Age Cycladic, Minoan and Mycenaean Art

Aegean Civilization denotes the Bronze Age civilization that developed in the basin of the Aegean Sea. It had tree major cultures: the Cycladic, the Minoan and the Mycenaean. Aegean art is noticeable for its naturalistic vivid style, originated in Minoan Crete. No much was known about the Aegean civilization until the late 19th century, when archaeological excavations began at the sites of the legendary cities of Troy, Mycenae, Knossos, and other centers of the Bronze Age.

Cycladic culture - Early Bronze Age
(About 3000-2200 B.C.)

The Cycladic civilization of the Aegean Sea flourished at about the same time as the early Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations. That is considered the forerunner of the first truly European civilization - Greece.
On the mainland their villages have been small independent units, often protected by thick walls. Over time, the buildings on Crete and in the Cyclads became more complex.Cycladic culture developed pottery, often decorated with rectangular, circular, or spiral designs. They also produced silver jewelry. The sculpture produced there was very unique compared to the art being produced by the Egyptians and Mesopotamians. These sculptures, commonly called Cycladic idols, were often used as grave offerings. Characteristic of that sculpture is that all were made of Parian marble, with its geometric, two-dimensional nature, which has a strangely modern familiarity. The Cycladic artists made obvious attempts to represent the human form. Therefore, Cycladic sculpture can safely be called the first truly great sculpture in Greece.

Minoan Culture - Middle Bronze Age
(About 2200-1800 B.C.)

Newcomers arrived in the Cyclades and on the mainland and caused destruction. For about two centuries civilization was disrupted. New pottery and the introduction of horses at this time indicate that the invaders were of the Indo-European language family.

Minoan culture developed on Crete, in the 2nd millennium B.C. Impressive buildings, frescoes, vases, and early writing are evidence of that flourishing culture. Great royal palaces built around large courtyards were the focal points of these communities. The Minoan empire appears to have coordinated and defended the bronze-age trade. They maintained a marine empire, trading not only with the Cyclades and the mainland but also with Sicily, Egypt, and cities on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean. Minoan religion featured a female snake deity, whose worship involved the symbolism of fertility and the lunar and solar cycles.

Minoan art is unusual for the time. It is naturalistic, quite different from the stiff stereotypes of contemporary art elsewhere. The vibrant colors, smooth lines, and sense of nature make Minoan art a pleasure for eyes even today. Minoan artists broke away from the two-dimensional expression of figure and created three-dimensional figures. The frescoes are art of exceptional beauty and their fluidity makes the figures dynamic. The easy pleasure-loving lifestyle comes across in their art. The Minoan civilization rivaled that of Egypt. From Crete, this style spread to the Aegean. On the Greek mainland it was modified by geometric tendencies.
Minoan palaces: Knossos, Phaestos, Malia, Zakros.

Mycenaean culture - Late Bronze Age
(1600-1200 B.C.)

It is believed that the Mycenaeans were responsible for the end of the Minoan culture with which they had many ties. This theory is supported by a switch on the island of Crete from the Cretan Linear A Script to the Mycenaean Linear B style script and by changes in ceramics styles and decoration. The styles on painted vases and weapons that depicted hunting and battle scenes are more formal and geometric than those of earlier examples, anticipating the art of classical Greece.

The architecture and art of Greek mainland was very different from the one of Crete. Mycenae and Tiryns were two major political and economic centers there at the time.

Cyclopean Architecture is the Mycenaean type of building walls and palaces. Palaces were built as large citadels made of piled up stones, as opposed to the openness of Minoan palaces. The citadel of Mycenae is an Acropolis - a citadel on raised area. The Lion Gate - entrance to the Acropolis of the city of Mycenae is an excellent example of this building practice combined with a corbelled arch - the triangular arch shape that the lions stand within.

Megaron is the fortress palace of the king at the center of a typical Mycenaean city. This is a characteristic form of Mycenaean palace found at many sites, including Troy. They are very symmetrical and its basic form is a forerunner of later Greek temple forms.

Tholos tombs are conical chambers with the subterranean burial chambers. The stonework of the tholos is very much influenced by Egyptian masonry techniques. There are 9 at Mycenae. There were found the gold death masks, weapons, and jewelry at the royal burial sites similar to Egyptian practice.

Mycenaean civilization mysteriously disappeared shortly after 1200 B.C. most likely, to widespread fighting among the Mycenaean Greeks. Read More...

Painting Pet Portraits Whilst Parenting!

Balancing the desire for a family and run a successful small business has never been easy. Enquiries for my work started to increase after I launched this pet portraits website in 2005 as people sought that unique Christmas and birthday present. Then in October 2006 Nicola came along forcing me to take a break.

Shortly after her birth, in February 2007, my partner went into hospital to have a hip replacement involving a long period of post-surgery convalescence. In effect, for a while, I had two children to care for but we got over this and I soon got back behind the easel. Admittedly it wasn't easy with a baby which then started crawling everywhere before taking to her feet but the commissions kept coming in and the desire to paint my pet portraits again was overwhelming. However, with the help of parents, in laws and friends I managed to get going again. I would particularly concentrate on getting a few hours done in the evening in the days Nicola used to go to bed early! As she got older and started pre-school I'd make the most of the precious few hours in the morning when she was otherwise entertained.

As with most commercial artists particularly pet portrait artists the pinch points are Christmases and for me the last three have been exceptionally busy. However in the summer of 2009 I became pregnant again so the rush was on to complete Christmas 2009 orders and other non time specific requests. Leo was born in March this year. However, two months before his birth my partner's new hip of 2007 literally fell apart requiring surgery once more. As Leo was born he was in hospital then once again stuck at home recovering. We had decided that I would take a longer time to enjoy my new son.

Now, as Autumn approaches and the enquirers begin, I have taken on a selection of commissions so as not to disappoint because of the constraints on my time, focusing on impending festive commissions. It's a real juggling act with a demanding baby and a four year old with more energy than I can keep up with and more questions than I have answers for!

Again family and friends have come to the rescue. As soon as Nicola is out at school, out with her dad, or in bed, and assuming young Leo is snoozing I am back at the easel. Whether it's grabbing five minutes or half an hour I take every opportunity to paint.

Read more: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Painting-Pet-Portraits-Whilst-Parenting-/3469263#ixzz1iJ8IaWXN
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