This and That About Art

MiniMouseEarth
This and that about Fine Art

In here I like to share some thoughts and useful information regarding art. Not much, but a little some-thing which might explain why it could be important to look more closely at a painting. To learn a little about judging if the work of an artist is well done or not so good. This disregarding your taste, or if it would look good with the fabrics in your living room.

There are times a painting don't "talk to you" but you still enjoy what you see. It could be because of the way the motif has been executed (I mean has been put on the canvas etc.). The balance, both in colors and composition etc. are very important. Also some of the technical terminology of fine art is good to know to understand.

My qualification to teach? Just a year of Art History Classes with an excellent teacher, but this was in the school year of 1991-1992. Yes, look at me as an amateur who like to share some of what I know by heart.

Are you spending a few days in New York City? Don't forget to pay a visit to the famous Metropolitan Museum of Art. A visit to view their extensive art-collection of the Impressionists and more wonders in the world of Fine Art. All the Impressionists are represented, from the pre-impressionist Gustave Courbert and Millet, to Mary Cassat , Degas and post-impressionist Vincent van Gogh and many more. Or perhaps closer to our own time, a visit to the Modern Museum of Art to see Lichtenstein's and Warhol's original work. Only to mention a few.

Back to vocabulary: To follow a guide around in a museum could be a very good idea, but also to understand what these scholars actually are talking about. There are, to give you an example, words adapted from different languages and have a different meaning when it comes to the subject of Fine Art.

/Margareta

To understand visual art better, one need to understand what it is that makes a painting or a sculpture better than another. This could take years of study. To be able to go deeper into a work of art, to understand what is "going on", sometimes takes knowledge of even more than vocabulary and art history. But it is a start to be aware about some differences. Which translates to there is more behind what you see in front of you. The rest is the artists intentions and how he/she has executed the piece. There are certain rules that will make a painting outstanding. This is why we all "don't make it" even if the talent is there.

To give you an example; The creating of depth is among the most easy skills to recognize. Among important words in this area is "CHIAROSCURO" ( Italian) This term is used to define the creation of the visual perception of the depth in a picture and make it look 3-D. Chiaro means light, and Scuro dark. If (the picture below) the Khafre pyramid at Giza had the same sharpness as the Sphinx, it would appear as if they were on the same level or plane. This would create a flat view. Study and compare the photos below and feel if You can step into the picture, or if the pictures main object is approaching.

Pastoral and religious, musical and mannerism are other words likewise linear. These words are used to describe a painters style and how it "talks to you". Flickering light might describe how the weather is important to the painting. - Look at the flickering light! How well executed it is in this painting, is what a guide at the museum might say. Well... what could this mean to an un experienced viewer?

ILLUSTRATION OF CIAROSCURO AND LANDSCAPE VS PORTRAIT

How well a painting is "executed" could depend on brush-strokes in texture and form. This is what has made the Baroque painters' work so exquisite. Fur and lace so real you like to touch it. I am thinking about the Dutch painters van Dyke, Rubens and Rembrandt. In Sarasota, Florida, at the Ringling Brother's Museum, you can find a beautiful collection of paintings from the era we call the Renaissance and "The Dark Ages".

In our time we don't have the same need to learn how to do so. The camera has taken away a lot of time-consuming artistic chores, and new ways to express one self has been discovered and accepted. I would like to thank the post impressionists and the "father of cubism", Paul Cézanne, for this fact. Here I like to take the opportunity to mention that I have visited Paul Cézanne's studio in Southern France. To see the items he had used in his paintings brought tears of joy to my eyes. I almost expected him to show up with a walking stick and chase us tourists away. Well, the apples had not been there for all that time, they looked fresh.

There is a visible thread thru time in art history. One might say that the camera took away work from the artist who was needed to do portraits. It is not so. There are still skilled portrait artists needed, and other artists are letting the camera work for them as a tool instead of thinking of photos as a competition.

There is more art on my mind on the next page./Margareta

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