Richard Rockwell The Connoisseur

Jackson Pollock was not known for painting images, that's because he didn't use a brush He believed the brush would interfere with the dripping of the paint. Instead Jackson used a stick to pour paint onto the canvas. He would change the color, type of paint, and the thickness of the paint as the work progressed. Therefore, the painting would reflect the movements of his arm and body as he applied the paint. The activity of the painting would become part of the painting itself. That style of painting is called action painting. Jackson Pollock was the first "all-over" action painted just like Cernuschi stated on page 67 in his book Meaning and Significance, "He painted no image, just action." It looked like Pollock almost imitated a dance. Pollock dripped paint all over the canvas, but always had total control of where the splash of paint would be. That is how he got his nickname "Jack the

While the painters after the Impressionism period were collectively called the “Post-Impressionists,” the label is quite reductive. Each artist had their own unique style, from Seurat’s pointillism to Signac’s mosaic-like divisionism, Cezanne, Émile Bernard, and others. These artists were all connected in that they were reacting to the aesthetics of Impressionism. Two of the more influential painters from this movement were Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, who aimed to connect with viewers on a deeper level by access Nature’s mystery and meaning beyond its superficial, observable level. However, each artist’s approach to achieving this goal was different. In close examination of Vincent van Gogh’s Self-Portrait (Dedicated to Paul Gauguin) and Paul Gauguin’s Self-Portrait with Portrait of Émile Bernard (Les misérables), one may clearly see the two artists’ contrasting styles on display.

When the narrator first invites Rockwell to his studio to examine his paintings, Rockwell’s unconventionality is illustrated through his dissimilar beliefs and values from the narrator. The narrator’s exceptionally well-organized, detailed personality is illustrated when he “poured three fingers in the glass, handed it to Rockwell, and another three fingers for [himself].” This action indicates his seemingly calm behaviour and efficient, conventional lifestyle that he currently maintains in order to forget about his past. His supposedly calm, composed behaviour is also demonstrated through his actions of painting where he would “leave [the paintings] like this for the month or so preceding a show” so that he could later on add other details later on. The narrator’s calm, well-organized behaviour illustrates the façade he puts on in order to assimilate into reality. However, even though the narrator appears to accept the reality he is currently living, he actually lives in an ulterior universe where he constantly indulges into his own paintings in order to maintain his despairing, unfortunate past.

On Saturday, November 4th, I visited the Denver Art Museum in Denver, Colorado. The piece of art I decided to write about is called “A Mountain Symphony (Longs Peak, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado)” This two-dimensional oil on canvas painting was completed in America in 1927 by Sven Birger Sandzén. This painting has not been on public view since 1927 and is located in the Denver Art Museum in Denver, Colorado. It was a “Free Day” at the museum, so I decided to attend by myself. I was unable to get a picture of myself in front of the work of art I decided to write about, but I did get several pictures of the artwork and a picture of myself with the “Free Day” sticker. I decided to write about this work of art because it was the only piece in the museum that really stood out to me and really caught my attention. A Mountain Symphony is a lively, beautiful landscape painting with a vibrant pallet filled with luminosity and broad brushstrokes. The sculptural quality of the paint surface reflect the influence of turn-of-the century modernist techniques. The balance of color and light brings happiness and joy to the viewer.

Norman Rockwell, a 20th century painter was born in 1894. He depicted many scenes of American culture through his perspective until his death in 1978. I chose to do my looking assignment on his oil and graphite on canvas and wood “Framed”. I traveled to Roanoke to see this fine piece of art in the Tubman Art museum. When I first looked at this piece I was very drawn to the texture. By the looks of the picture I took, you cannot really tell that this piece is textured. This piece depicts a picture of a man who seems to be a museum worker holding a frame and essentially framing himself in it. In this piece you also see other pieces of art hanging on the wall around him giving him a wide variety of very expressive looks. You see in this painting that Rockwell used a picture inside of a picture to tell the story of the museum worker.

Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Artists Rights Society (ARS). (2017). Collection. Retrieved from MOMA Museum of Modern Art, US: Museum of Modern Art [US]/https://www.moma.org/collection/works/78699

When I attend the Oklahoma Art Museum this morning, I was completely blown away by the different styles, technique, and artistic abilities that artist have. Art can come in many forms and can involve many different things. From paintings, sculptures, and abstract pieces of the modern world. Along with my visit, I got to experience a new collection of blown glass that was absolute remarkable. As I walked though the museum, it was as I walked though time and got to see how each period’s art changed throughout time. From the different shades of color to the different types of technique that filled the halls of the Oklahoma City Art Museum, each piece was genuine in its own way. I was starstruck as I witnessed Lowell Nesbitt’s Parrot Tulip, Richard Diebenkorn’s Albuquerque, and Dale Chihuly’s blown glass.

It was there that he dabbled in new forms, styles, and materials and also produced some Pop art. Chuck Close spent quite a bit of time trying to find his artistic niche. In an interview with Ilka Scobie, Close explained that he had been doing big paintings “forever… In graduate school I made the biggest paintings. That is the only aspect of my work that hasn’t changed…” (3). Although Chuck Close experimented for a long time before he found his signature style, which seems to be a combination of a gridding process, abstract expressionism, and portraiture, it has turned into something very unique and appealing to the viewer. The time he took to figure out his personal style was certainly not wasted. Close explained that his inability to recognize faces (prosopagnosia) “may have inadvertently pushed me in the direction I’m working today—trying to scrutinize the faces of the people I know and love, and trying to figure out what they look like” (Smith 15). Chuck Close’s signature style depicts the faces of many different people in an abstract way. He uses a grid method and each square is “made form multiple small geometric forms” (Ravin, and Odell). His work is abstract and very large. Close’s paintings are remarkable, viewing them at an up close view or at a distance gives the viewer an entirely different experience. It is almost as if the viewer is looking at two separate pieces of

Perchuk argues that because men were expressing weak emotions through paintings and that as society accepted, art critiques viewed the paintings and Pollock’s personality emotions of femininity— a masquerade. Perchuk articulated that, “The masquerade of the drip painting offered … unemasculated phallic display to the perceived emasculation … and …the perception of

Art history: a useless pondering over sketches that have little significance to life, at least this is the notion held by many. Delving into art history is a slippery slope that requires more than any one person knows. James F. Cooper and Alan Wallach explore the considerations art historians go through to decipher the relevancy of artworks. However, James F. Cooper’s arguments retro and one-track minded, while Alan Wallach’s arguments on which artworks to pick apart, the methods to attack them, and the reasons people spend so long analyzing a piece of paper are far more relevant to today’s emerging standards.

On September 4, 2016, I visited the Matisse in His Time exhibit at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. This exhibit is home to a plethora of pieces by many different European artists from the 19th and 20th centuries. While it is focused on Matisse and his extensive works, containing more than 50 of his pieces, there are many portraits and sculptures by other influential artists from that time period including Renoir, Picasso, and Georges Braque. Three of the most appealing works that I encountered in this exhibit are Maurice de Vlaminck’s Portrait of Père Bouju, Pablo Picasso’s Reclining Woman on a Blue Divan, and Henri Matisse’s sculpture series Henriette I, Henriette II, and Henriette III.

Have you ever felt as if you live in a different world? In the painting, "Negro In The Suburbs", painted in 1967, you can sense the collision of two different families from completely different backgrounds.In his many different works, Rockwell had made subtle, but loud movements in his artwork, mostly with issues surrounding civil rights.

Pollock began doing all of his works in a completely abstract manner in the mid 1940s. But, after 1947 is when Pollock's most recognizable abstract works would be produced. This is when he began placing large canvases on the floor and creating his famous abstract works. On these large canvases, he started to use his "drip" technique, which was first shown to him by Siqueiro. These drip paintings were first shown in 1948. They are said to reflect both ecstasy and anxiety. After they were introduced to the world, a critic actually characterized Pollock as "Jack the Dripper". These works captivated and scared his future wife, Lee Krasner, a painter herself.

Taking following extreme cases of abstraction, when speaking of Pollock’s work such as his ”Autumn Rhythm” (1950), we realize how the visual formed is fully based on science and gravity that permits the dripping and pouring of the paint on the horizontal canvas. But, by walking around/on the canvas we can argue Greenberg’s analysis and suppose that the painter possibly connects with it, he gets drowned in the act and merges inside the painting while mechanically pouring paint on the canvas. This means that even though the painter tries to focus on the flatness of the painting rather than the content and is physically detached from the canvas, this focus cannot erase an emotional

felt that the frame of mind of the artist when he creates a work of