Your Daily Art

Category: Artists

  • Delirium or Grief

    Ophelia by John Everett Millais, 1851-2, The Tate Gallery, London

    Millais’ painting of Ophelia done very early in his career is one of the finest works created by the short-lived Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and their movement. The legend of the candles, sickness and the model herself would become the PRB’s most often re-told tale. However, it pales in comparison to the work itself when it stopped me in my tracks at the National Gallery in London (on loan from the Tate at the time) and set me on a whole new path for my Master’s thesis.

  • Bringing the Modern to Tradition

    The Modern Song (Modan bushi) by K. Kotani, 1930.

    Japanese Art Deco period. The work presented shows us a country working to combine tradition with the modern western world whose influence had been felt in Japan for a while, but whose culture was only then beginning to be adapted. This can be seen most prominently in the depiction of the Japanese version of the “Flapper,” or modern early 20th century woman, who was up-ending society in the West.

  • Setting the Scene

    Dancers in the Wings by Edgar Degas, 1876-78, Pastel

    Degas is well known for his superior ability to draw and to fade into the background so that he could capture a scene without influencing what was happening.

  • Before Cubism

    Portrait Olga dans un Fauteuil by Pablo Picasso, Picasso Museum

    Olga in an armchair. This early portrait is of his first wife Olga whom he married in 1918 and separated from in 1927, but never divorced. She was active in society and Picasso had disdain for that lifestyle.

  • Spot On

    Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grand Jatte by Georges Seurat, Art Institute of Chicago.

    Seurat did preparatory drawings everyday for six months getting ready to paint this picture of people relaxing on a day off. The style is called Pointillism and involves using color dots to create the image. Who knows how Seurat would have refined the style he invented if he had not died at the age of 32.

    Love you, Mom!

  • Sketch

    Monkey (study for La Grande Jatte), 1884 by Georges Seurat, The Art Institute of Chicago.

    Seurat made hundreds of studies for his painting La Grande Jatte, some just small pencil sketches like this, some on-site oil sketches, and even full large scale drafts.

  • Monkey Business

    Monkeys in a Kitchen by David Teniers the Younger, The Hermitage

    Teniers was a prolific painter and also the court curator for Archduke Leopold in Brussels during the 17th century. Of the over 2000 works he painted, many of them were copies of other works in the Archduke’s collection, as well as, paintings showing the placement of the art on the walls.

  • Recreation

    Past Times by Kerry James Marshall, 1997.

    This work was recently bought by Sean Combs (P.Diddy) for his personal collection.

    Marshall who is from Chicago and was classically trained as an artist, has gained much fame in recent years through gallery representation and shows at the Met Breuer, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago,, and the Tate Modern in London.

    As an art historian, I can’t help but make a connection between his work and the work of the great Jacob Lawrence.

  • Mad Monsters

    Matthias Grunewald, detail, Isenheim Altarpiece,1510-15,

    These fantastic monsters are part of one of the most amazing pieces of art to come out of the 16th century. There are three different views or openings and the final view is a wood carving.

  • Tripping the Light Fantastic

    Ball at the Moulin de la Galette by Pierre Auguste Renoir, Musee d’Orsay.

    Renoir was studying the effects of light at different times of the day at one of his favorite venues and as he enjoyed himself with his friends – good work if you can get it. One of the most famous of the Impressionists, he was working closely with Monet at this time. Check out Kahn Academy for some great videos on art and artists.