Teco Vase, early 20th century, Terra Cotta Tile Works – Teco.
Teco’s matte finishes and organic shapes have become synonymous with the Prairie School movement. Frank Lloyd Wright had them produce some of his designs.
Category: art history
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Why Change a Good Thing
Garden Study of the Vickers Children by John Singer Sargent, Flint Institute of Arts.
This study is very similar in subject and lay-out to the finished painting entitled Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose which was painted the following year.
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Keeping Track of Time
Aztec Calendar, National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City
Mistakenly identified as a calendar, this was a large stone used in sacrificial ceremonies. The Aztec calendar is based on 20 day signs, which are in turn each ruled by a god.
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Star Dragon
Dragon of Marduk, Neo-Babylonian, Reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, Detroit Institute of Arts.
The Latin word for dragon, draco means both dragon and snake. This glazed brick representation of a dragon comes from Babylon of the fabled Hanging Gardens. The Staatliche Museen zu Berlin has recreated the Ishtar Gate which depicts many guardian animals, both mystical and real.
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Painted Windows
2nd Style Roman Painting c.40-30 B.C., The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Second style combines naturalistic scenes with architectural elements. Perspective was not fully developed for roughly 1500 years, so what the scenes lacked in realism they made-up for in creativity and imagination.
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Building Bridges
Woman with a Cat, 1921 by Fernand Léger, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, ©1999 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris
Léger’s early study of architecture can be seen in the lines and lay-out of his paintings. His artwork is a bridge between the two worlds.
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Too Close to the Sun
The Chariot of Apollo, c.1912 by Odilon Redon.
The Chariot of Apollo has been painted a number of different times throughout history, but Redon’s version is probably the most ethereal. He was a member of the Symbolist movement.
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Pre-Pre-Raphaelite
The Last of England by Ford Madox Brown, Tate Collection
Brown was a huge influence on the Pre-Raphaelites. He is often grouped together with them even though he was considerably older than them and had been working for years. He received his training in Belgium and Paris.
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For the Birds
Saint Francis and the Birds, 1935 by Sir Stanley Spencer.
St. Francis seems to be given a comical take as he appears to admonish the heavens for giving him the admiration of the animals, in this particular case, birds. The model for St. Francis was the artist’s father who is shown wearing a bathrobe rather than the monk’s robe St. Francis would have worn.
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A Banner Year
Wheatfield, 1888 by Vincent van Gogh.
1888 was a busy year for van Gogh he moved down to the South of France where he was energized by the subjects and the natural light, Gauguin came to stay with him which prompted the episode where he cut-off part of his ear, and his beloved brother Theo married.
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