The colourful grotesque scenes painted by James Ensor have caused many to place him as a pioneer of expressionism. He is most recognized as the painter of masks and skeletons. However, to place him under one category would be to ignore a large portion of his career, in which he tackled a plethora of techniques, mediums, and subjects. The diversity of Ensor's art sets him apart from many other artists, and his experimentation was ceaseless. Ensor was innovative and original, excelling at a great number of things. Until his death in 1949, Ensor constantly proved his ever-expanding artistic ability, expressing himself through his work in any way that he pleased, and refusing to surrender to the standards of others. James Sidney Ensor was born in 1860 to an educated Englishman and a bourgeious Belgium woman in the seaside resort town of Ostend, Belgium. During the summer the streets would be crawling with tourists, eager to take in the sea and partake in a wild Flemish festival. Ensor's father, James Frederic Ensor, left for the United States shortly after his son's birth to find work as a civil engineer, but returned to Ostend after the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. The family of his wife, Maria Catherina Haegheman, owned a small eclectic souvenir shop, in which Ensor found great inspiration. In my parents' shop I had seen the wavy lines, the serpentine forms of beautiful seashells, the irridescent lights of mother-of-pearl, the rich tones of delicate chinoiserie (1).
This essay analyses the aesthetic and ideological underpinnings of the Modernist artwork, Impression, Sunrise of Claude Monet. The artwork and Impressionism is considered to be a visual articulation of the avant-garde and the latter statement is explained. References to the writings of Charles Harrison, Clement Greenberg and Wilhelm Worringer is used to theorise the aesthetics of modernity.
We went to the beach a lot. There was a beach across the street from our hotel called Treasure Island. The sand right where the water met the sand had lots of broken off parts of shells. One part of sand was so fluffy it felt like flour. Once when my dad and I were at the beach looking for shells and a bird started eating my pop tart! Some times, there were washed up jelly fish. W didn't
The objective of this study is to post the names of three visual artists such as painters and sculptors that were the most influential during the 1960. After identifying the visual artists, a URL will be posted so that the reader can link up to review their work. Finally, a brief commentary will be offered on each of the artists in regards to why they are so influential.
For the photograph that I took, I decided to follow Weston’s theme and photograph an organic object with interesting features. I needed to find something with a vivid texture so that the photograph could allow the viewer to almost feel what I could. I searched throughout my room until finally, I found what I was looking for. It was a shell from the Pacific Ocean that I had brought back with me from Mexico. The shell had off-whites blended into browns and reds. It also had ridges running from the origin of the shell, to the outside. I found the situation to be somewhat ironic considering that Weston had lived in Mexico taking photographs, and also took pictures of shells.
In the late 1900’s the art world became even more evolved from Impressionism, Fauvism, Futurism, and Abstract styles of art. Neo-Expressionism, a style of painting, and some sculpture, which emerged in the early 1980s, usually characterized by a return to figuration in expressive, gestural, and sometimes brashly aggressive works. This art movement was mostly associated with artist from New York like Julian Schnabel, David Salle, and Eric Fischl (Artsy.com). Of these artist there was one African-American, by the name of Jean-Michel Basquiat, genius of his time, and currently one of the world’s most renounced artist. His shaky upbringing along with his feelings towards situations in his personal life and cultural issues during is time,
Art has evolved and regenerated itself many times during our human existence. These differences are defined through changes in styles under various theories. During the nineteenth and early twentieth century, a style known as Expressionism became popular. During this movement the artists were trying to use their artwork as a tool of expression toward life. It was mainly dominant in the nonrepresentational arts, such as abstract visual arts and music. It also was probably one of the most difficult movements to understand because the whole point of the piece lay within the artist. Not only was it a movement, it defined the act of art as a whole. From the beginning of time, each work of art, excluding replicas, show a way of expressing
Vincent Willem van Gogh is considered as one of the most renowned artist/painter in history, but like many others, his legacy and talent was brought to light after his death. While suffering from mental illness and poverty throughout his life, he was still able to capture the essence of beauty and color through his expressionistic, abstract technique as well as influence in Japanese art. His works accumulate to 2,100, consisting of 860 oil paintings, and more than 1,300 watercolor, drawings, and sketches. Van Gogh, being a post-impressionist artist, is stated to be the greatest Dutch painter after Rembrandt. Van Gogh’s work is now recognized by many; from his art being sold for little to nothing, is now sold for millions.
Around 1890, an artist by the name of Vincent Van Gogh who present day is one of the most renowned artists created magnificent, yet mysterious drawings which he started with just a pencil. From his pencil drawings with lines and dashes to the beautiful variations with using paint, Vincent was a genius, but was never congratulated on his work until later. Even as he was pronounced crazy, he could still create beautiful works of art which shows how even a flower can bloom in a dark forest. As his life was slowly being painted on canvas from the years of solitude and psychiatric problems he finally killed himself which a couple years later brought up his artwork through his own suicide.
Arguably no other artist has captured people's imaginations like Vincent van Gogh. “Vincent van Gogh’s passion, contemplation of life, nature, art, his intensity, his mental illnesses, and his suicide at thirty-seven have all contributed to the powerful myths and love for the estranged artist” (Callow). It is hard to believe that such a beloved painter of today’s society lived such, a short and tortured life. At a young age things, did not start out too well for Vincent. He did not have a very good childhood, and went through many failures in life before he finally found he had an enjoyment for painting. He did not find out that he had a love for painting until he was about twenty-seven years old. Even when he discovered that his calling
During post-war his art begins to take on humorous details, which can be seen in the “Puss -in- Boots” character, which he detailed in his diary on April 1946. "I just had an absurd and unpleasant dream in which somehow a Puss-in-Boots played a role that made me mighty ridiculous". He was recognized as an “Expressionist” artist, which can be seen in his use of brushstrokes and bold color choices. The Beginning was one of his most autobiographical paintings out the 10 allegorical triptych paintings he created during 1932-1950.
Vincent Van Gogh was an artistic genius with a nightmare for a life. He suffered both mental illness and the scorn of others.
Mark Rothko- Abstract Expressionist paintings can be divided into two groups. That of the action painters and that of the colour-field painters. As melancholic and misanthropic as Pollok, killing himself in 1970. Understood that to paint a flat form painting destroyed illusion and revealed truth. He was very aware of the spiritual dimensions attainable in abstract art, some of his works being described as deeply religious. (Hugh Honour & Fleming, 1991)
Munch had a series of paintings that were exhibited in a major art show in Berlin. The series was entitled The Frieze of Life, all six of these paintings caused such shock that the show was forced to shut down. Munch had so much feelings, passions, anguish, stress, sorrow, and pain in his paintings that people just didn't understand what was going on. He thought that people were just afraid of the truth. Munch had let his feelings out, not through rage or anger, but through art, some people that attended the show saw more than just art they saw one mans feelings. Munch's painting began having a big part in German Expressionism.
The movements of German Expressionism and Japanese pre-war cinema produced trends greatly influenced by its historical context. These contexts contributed to shaping their own stylistic styles captured throughout the theme, mise-en-scene, and cultural ideologies. Although these two movements occurred in fairly similar time periods, they both occurred in different parts of the world which had a fundamental role in generating key contrasts between these movements. Both occurring in pre-war periods, a striking similarity existed between the two; they both displayed the economic instabilities. Both subtly exhibited the internal anxieties that the individuals faced in the differing societies. German Expressionism had the stylistic forms that in turn captured distorted images or grotesque style to convey an abstract sense of reality throughout 1920’s. On the other hand, the Japanese pre-war cinema expressed the humanistic family by displaying their everyday struggles of the lower middle class known as the “common people” during the 1930’s. Although these movements were individually unique throughout their distinct stylistic devices and ideologies, they essentially came together during this time period to help transform the art of national cinema.
Abstract Expressionism is making its comeback within the art world. Coined as an artist movement in the 1940’s and 1950’s, at the New York School, American Abstract Expressionist began to express many ideas relevant to humanity and the world around human civilization. However, the subject matters, contributing to artists, were not meant to represent the ever-changing world around them. Rather, how the world around them affected the artist themselves. The works swayed by such worldly influences, become an important article within the artists’ pieces. Subjectively, looking inward to express the artist psyche, artists within the Abstract Expressionism movement became a part of their paintings. Making the paintings more of a representation