The Getty Museum is hosting an exhibition whose subject is the representation of death in medieval manuscripts. The manuscript was the most important piece of individually owned art during that time. People would commission artists, usually monks, to create books of prayers for them that were intended for personal use. They were small in size so the owner could easily carry them around. The exhibition entitled Heaven, Hell, and Dying Well: Images of Death in the Middle Ages runs through August 12, 2012.
Tag: art
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The Road Less Travelled
Apaquogue by Adolph Gottlieb, 1961, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.Adolph Gottlieb was one of the founders of the Abstract Expressionist movement. His work went from figural portraits in the 20’s and 30’s, to large amalgamations of images that resemble collages in the 40’s, to stark divided canvases in the 50’s and 60’s. These later works are the ones he is best known for, the ones that require the viewer to study the painting and think about what is not represented, as Gottlieb himself put it,”…the very nature of abstract thought is to reduce the complexity of all
of life and to bring it down to something very simple which embodies all
this complexity”(from an interview of Gottlieb by Martin Friedman, 1962).That is part of the challenge of Abstract Expressionism, it begs the viewer to invest in the work with their own thoughts and interpretations, and for this reason, many people are put-off by it. Some people would rather have the art do the work and entertain them, or clearly reflect the skill of the artist, and therefore abstract works, which seek to say a lot with very little, leave them wanting more.
Apaquogue is named for a road in East Hampton where the artist had a home.
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Bringing the Modern to Tradition
The Modern Song
(Modan bushi
) by
K. Kotani,
1930. (Detail.)
(Credit: Exhibition organized and circulated by Art Services International, Alexandria, Va.)
is currently hosting an exhibition of Japanese art from the
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
or modern early 20th century woman, who was up-ending society in the west, as well.
The exhibition runs through June 10th at the
.
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Hidden Meanings
The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1533, The National Gallery, London.
Hans Holbein the Younger was born in Germany but spent most of his career in England as the court painter to Henry VIII. His work was strongly influenced by the Northern Renaissance painters like Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Wyden. Their realistic style rendered in bright jewel tones, was his style, as well. This portrait of two men thought to be ambassadors to the English court from France, is filled with hints and puzzles about the men’s lives, and even a message for we viewers. On the bottom of the piece in the center, you see a skull painted in Anamorphic perspective. It is seen only from particular angles and is thought be placed there to remind us all of our mortality. -
Carved History
Gemma Augustea, Roman, Early 1st century CE, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.To memorialize his triumph over the “barbarians” this carved cameo was created that shows the Emperor Augustus receiving the crown of victory and seated among the gods on the upper level, while his soldiers handle the captives below. -
Glass Jewels
Stained Glass Panel in
Style at
always liked to create an entire environment in his buildings and homes. He designed furniture, rugs, light fixtures, stained glass, pottery, fabrics – whatever a home would need. His student
, who collaborated with Wright on the design, included a glass panel typical of his teacher’s style that now serves as a beautiful focal point at the entrance.
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Stacked Blocks by Design
Vintage Postcard of the Arizona Biltmore HotelThe hotel opened in 1929 and was the first resort complex in the Phoenix area. Two brothers from Chicago named McArthur, asked their brother Albert McArthur, who had studied with Frank Lloyd Wright to design the hotel complex. McArthur and Wright collaborated on the design and it’s detials and McArther used Wright’s “textile block” design to create the “Biltmore Block” from which the buildings are constructed. -
On the Water
Venetian Palace by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, 1914, Hunterian Art Gallery, University of GlasgowAlthough the title seems to indicate that this work was done in Venice, Italy, it tongue-in-cheek, because it was actually done in Suffolk England, the city of Walberswick, to be exact. Mackintosh who was working primarily as an architect, took-up watercolor (an earlier pursuit) when commissions slowed. -
Wildlife at Home
In My Orchard, a wallpaper design by C.F.A. Voysey, 1929, Victoria and Albert Museum, London.Another wallpaper design by Voysey, who actually claimed to prefer bare wooden walls to walls covered in paper, certainly did a lot of designs for wallpapers and even had them in his own home, which was called The Orchard.
Your Daily Art 
