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Why Does Art History Love the Monochrome?

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Why Does Art History Love the Monochrome?

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Aesthetic Appreciatio

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Aesthetic Appreciation: Crash Course Philosophy #30

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Who decides what art means? - Hayley Levitt

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Who decides what art means? - Hayley Levitt

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Who decides what art means? - Hayley Levitt

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Artist Walks Along Shores To Create Massive Sand Designs Before High Tide Arrives [Interview]

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Artist Walks Along Shores To Create Massive Sand Designs Before High Tide Arrives [Interview]

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San Francisco-based artist Andres Amador has been drawing large-scale designs on sandy beaches since 2004. His patterns range from geometric designs to mandalas to watery currents-all of which disappear when the waves return to shore. While his environmental art practice began in Northern California, he now creates his artwork on coasts around the world.

"The focus of my work for the past 15 years is the ever-evolving Earthscape Art series, inspired by my study of calligraphy, ancient architecture, and science of all disciplines," writes Amador. "The artwork can span over 100,000 feet, achievable only during low tide when the beach is revealed." These etchings in the sand create a dialogue between the art and the environment, and similarly, between the artist and his own work. The ephemerality of Amador's process invites him to meditate on topics beyond it. "Through this art form I have come to value the contemplative act of creation for its own sake," he continues. "The entire act becomes a meditation on being in the moment, of celebrating and being at peace with life and death."

We had the chance to speak with Amador about his Earthscape Art series and how he approaches these monumental drawings in the sand. Read on for My Modern Met's exclusive interview.
How did you start making sand art?
Before the landscape artwork, I did sculptural work. That work turned out to be highly geometric. In studying the forms I was creating, I stumbled into looking at methods that our ancient ancestors would have used to design their enormous temples and buildings. Crop circles share many of these techniques, and so my eye as drawn there as well. Then, when on the beach sharing what I had been learning with a friend, it suddenly dawned on me what could be possible with a canvas as large as what the beach could offer.
Most of your designs focus on patterns. What is your inspiration for these abstract pieces?
Nature is my ultimate inspiration. For the first few years, the geometric work was my focus as that was my entrance into creating at the large-scale. My studies by this time had turned towards fractals and patterns in nature. My geometric work held a huge issue for me. They felt static and lifeless, whereas these new areas of research felt alive and dynamic. I have always been drawn to nature but could never figure out how to decipher what I was seeing. And then I had an epiphany that in nature there are processes occurring and the pattern we see is the result.

For instance, at some temperature threshold, the moisture in the atmosphere will precipitate and form a cloud. If the temperature goes up then the water evaporates. If the moisture goes up, rain may occur. It's a dynamic process, which can be appreciated by watching clouds appear, shift, evolve as they float past. The cloud doesn't know what it looks like-it's just appearing as a result of other forces interacting. Think also of ripples in the sand formed by water or wind. Or the way tree growth responds to light. Each species in their own way, making their own identifiable yet individually unique profiles in the forest. So I began mimicking this apparent complexity by combining simple processes while working- processes that I could hold together over a large area without having to be specific in any particular way (as I would need to be with the geometric work). In this way, the artwork would "emerge" without specific direction or intent.

These days I have been combining these "geometric" and "organic" approaches, acknowledging both the order and chaos side of our existence.
What is your creative process for each design?

I am always noting and taking photos of patterns I see when out in the world, both natural and human-made, and puzzle over them to understand what is transpiring and what could I learn that could be applied at the largescale. Sometimes an approach I come upon for working at the landscape level will suggest its own possibilities. I'll explore all of this in my sketchbook. When a design has evolved into something that feels mature, it goes into a "pot" of ideas to select from when I am next at the beach. Once able to assess a location in person, I choose the design the works well with the circumstances on the beach. Each design has its own approach. Sometimes I have a better sense of what that will be before beginning, and sometimes the process breaks down in some unforeseen way.
Do you have an idea in mind before you visit a location or do you create pieces on the spot?
For the most part, I come to the beach without specific preconceptions. However, once I have begun work on a new piece I know the process I will follow. So I am not making it up as I go-there is a plan of some sort which allows me to keep it all together over such a large scale. Generally, when I arrive at a new location I come ready with various possibilities that I have been working on. Then I decide what would be most appropriate given the conditions of the beach-is the beach wide or narrow, sloped or flat, and so forth.

Some designs require more space, some work best when there are natural nooks and crannies to fill in. There are times when I may spend several days at one location, in which case I can design for that specific circumstance. There can be a dialogue between the artwork and the landscape, I can never take for granted how a beach may present. They are all changing throughout the month and year so I must be flexible with what I do.
How do you view the ephemerality of your art?
After having done this art for as long as I have, the ephemerality plays less of a part in my experience than it did at the beginning. At the start, there was a subversive quality to the art. Not that I am special in any way for creating art that isn't meant to last, but as a cultural norm, we view permanence as having more value. But through this art, I came to recognize that in the long arc of time, nothing will last. Eventually, all things I have done and that all humans have ever done will be erased.

It had me recognize that at the heart the desire for permanence is a fear of our mortality. How do we choose to spend our time in this limited existence? It is a fundamental question that can be both challenging and inspiring. It took me to the next recognition: what is worth doing other than that which elevates my spirit? That had me allow myself to let the art take a greater place in my life, investing so much energy in something that almost immediately will begin washing away. My art is a pointer to this larger awareness-to value the life experience as it is happening.
How has your artistic practice changed over time?
There are a couple of things I appreciate about the development of my work. At the start of my professional artwork, over 20 years ago, I was almost always indoors, often in the near dark due to the sculptures I was constructing, hunched over doing fine, meticulous work. Working outside and at the beach (barefoot!) was a huge and welcome change. And getting physical with my art-using my body as the brush essentially-brought me in much greater connection to my creations.
Is there an artwork you are most proud of?
Yes. Flow II is my largest piece that works with a specific landscape. My inspiration was the Japanese water painting of a river flowing. I designed it on an aerial photo of the location. Being able to carry through the long curving line as though they were strokes created from way above is quite difficult. For an organic design, I had a specific outcome that looks and feels natural from above, but on the ground, its a huge distance and I had to "feel the strokes."
How do you know when a work is finished?
Different designs have different endings. Some need to reach a certain completion. Some can go on and on without end and are finished when my canvas runs out, the waves return, or I'm ready to stop. A design may need a few tries before it achieves completion as a concept.
What is the best thing about being an artist?
I appreciate that I get to be creative for a living, doing it on my terms as expresses who I am. It is gratifying to create work that brings joy, wonder, and inspiration to so many.

My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Andres Amador.

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Artist Walks Along Shores To Create Massive Sand Designs Before High Tide Arrives [Interview]

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San Francisco-based artist Andres Amador has been drawing large-scale designs on sandy beaches since 2004. His patterns range from geometric designs to mandalas to watery currents-all of which disappear when the waves return to shore. While his environmental art practice began in Northern California, he now creates his artwork on coasts around the world.

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20 Famous Paintings From Western Art History Any Art Lover Should Know

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20 Famous Paintings From Western Art History Any Art Lover Should Know

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Since the emergence of the Italian Renaissance, the history of western art began a fascinating course through different stylistic genres. While 15th-century painting focused on portraying the ideal, the subsequent movements explored many other aesthetics and ideas, often in reaction to their historical predecessor. And although there are many remarkable paintings to study from these different art movements, we've narrowed down the expansive list to 20 iconic works that span from the end of the 15th century all the way to the first half of the 1900s.

Among this list of masterpieces are some that are so well known they've become a part of popular culture, as well as others that, while famous in art circles, may not be as familiar. For instance, René Magritte's Surrealist painting Treachery of Images, which features a rendering of a brown pipe accompanied by the recognizable phrase "This is not a pipe," has been referenced in film as well as video games. Similarly, Leonardo da Vinci's continues to inspire authors and filmmakers from around the world. On the other hand, some paintings that have eluded the same attention include Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Impressionist gem, Bal du Moulin de la Galette and Marcel Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase.

Want to brush up on your art history knowledge? Scroll down to take a short-listed tour of 20 of western art history's most famous paintings.

Brush up on your art history knowledge by learning about these famous paintings.

Italian Renaissance

Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus, c. 1484-6

Created in what is called the Early Renaissance (or the Quattrocento), The Birth of Venus is a stylistic depiction of the mythological Roman goddess, Venus. It is one of the first Renaissance paintings to display Classical inspiration.

Fun fact: The nudity depicted in The Birth of Venus was unusual-and rather daring-at the time.

Leonardo da Vinci, The Mona Lisa, c. 1503-1506

Almost everyone is familiar with The Mona Lisa's enchanting smile. Painted in the High Renaissance by polymath Leonardo da Vinci, it exhibits naturalistic painting techniques as well as a smokey background using sfumato.

Fun fact: The Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre in 1911, but it seems the thief made the painting famous. Newspapers spread the story of the crime worldwide, sparking international interest in the painting. When the artwork finally returned to the Paris museum two years later, it became celebrated as a masterpiece.

Michelangelo, The Sistine Chapel ceiling, 1508-1512

Michelangelo spent four years painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel for Pope Julius II. It is not only renowned for its incredible scale, but also for its complex composition and Classical inspirations.

Fun fact: Michelangelo was reluctant to take up the job. When he was asked by Pope Julius II to paint the ceiling, he made it very clear that hated painting and preferred sculpture. He even wrote a poem expressing his frustrations.

Baroque

Diego Velázquez, Las Meninas, 1656-7

Spanish artist Diego Velázquez was the court painter for King Philip IV and known for his expressive portraits which captured the physical likeness and personality of his subjects. Las Meninas is his most revered work and still lauded by art historians today for its complex design. It shows the infanta Margaret Theresa surrounded by ladies in waiting, a chaperone, a bodyguard, a chamberlain, and even Velázquez himself.

Fun fact: The King and Queen are included in the painting. Above the princess' head, there's a dark wooden frame. Within it is her father and mother, King Philip IV of Spain and Mariana of Austria.

Dutch Golden Age

Rembrandt van Rijn, The Night Watch, 1642

In the 17th century, Dutch artists became inspired by Northern Renaissance painting techniques in an era known as the Dutch Golden Age. Rembrandt van Rijn's The Night Watch is a massive group portrait in which the figures are nearly life-size. It showcases the artist's dramatic use of light and shadow.

Fun fact: The painting is viewed by around 4,000 to 5,000 visitors daily at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Johannes Vermeer, Girl With a Pearl Earring, c. 1665

Another of the most acclaimed paintings to emerge from this period is Johannes Vermeer's enticing portrait, Girl With a Pearl Earring. It portrays an anonymous woman wearing "exotic" blue-and-yellow clothing and sitting before a stark black background.

Fun Fact: Girl with a Pearl Earring is sometimes nicknamed the "Mona Lisa of the North." This is partially due to the subject's captivating expression, and because of the mystery surrounding the piece itself.

Romanticism

Théodore Géricault, The Raft of the Medusa, 1818-9

The Romantic art movement emphasized emotion, the sublimity of nature, and the individual. Théodore Géricault's The Raft of Medusa depicts a historical shipwreck off the coast of modern-day Mauritania, where sailors survived treacherous conditions to find a safe haven. The painting's use of scale and drama makes it a cornerstone of French Romanticism.

Fun fact: The Raft of the Medusa painting is huge, measuring around 16 feet by 23.5 feet. The raft itself was even bigger, measuring 23 feet by 66 feet.

Eugéne Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People, 1830

Liberty Leading the People is a dramatic large-scale painting by French artist Eugéne Delacroix. Created during the tumultuous French Revolution, it captures the spirit of the people's uprising.

Fun fact: The woman in the composition is known as "Marianne." She has been the personification of the French Republic ever since the first French Revolution of 1789.

Realism-Impressionism

Édouard Manet, Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe, 1863

Manet's large-scale masterpiece, Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe (or The Luncheon on the Grass), bridges the gap between the Realist and Impressionist art movements with its modern approach to style and subject matter. Featuring a nude woman picnicking in the company of two well-dressed men, it derives inspiration from Classical paintings of female nudes while placing it in a contemporary setting.

Fun fact: The clothed men in the painting were Manet's relatives-his brother, Eugène Manet, and his future brother-in-law, Dutch sculptor Ferdinand Leenhoff. The nude woman is Victorine-Louise Meurent, a popular muse of Parisian painters during late 1800s. She was nicknamed "La Crevette" (The Shrimp) because of her red hair and rosy complexion.

Impressionism

Claude Monet, Impression, Sunrise, 1872

Impression, Sunrise depicts a hazy blue-hued seascape dotted with small boats and a bright orange sun. In fact, its radical use of expressive brushstrokes to portray a sunrise is what sparked the Impressionist art movement and named its creator, Claude Monet, the "Father of Impressionism."

Fun fact: The painting depicts the harbor of LeHavre in France, but Monet felt there wasn't enough detail to title the painting after the location. Therefore, the name Impression, Sunrise was given. Monet titled most of his paintings with "Impression" for this reason.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Bal du Moulin de la Galette, 1876

The Bal du moulin de la Galette, or the Dance at the Moulin de la Galette, is among Renoir's most celebrated pieces. Like many other Impressionist works, it was painted en plein air, and offers a glimpse into life and leisure during France's Belle Époque.

Fun fact: The subjects in Bal du moulin de la Galette were fellow artists, scholars, and close friends to Renoir. The painter asked them to join him at Maison Fournaise to pose for the composition.

Post-Impressionism

Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night, 1889

While the Impressionist movement was preoccupied with portraying light in its painting, the Post-Impressionist movement focused on color. And few artists are as renowned for their use of color as Vincent van Gogh. The Starry Night was created late into the Dutch painter's short career and depicts the view from his window in the asylum at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.

Fun fact: This was not Van Gogh's first Starry Night. The year before, in 1888, the artist painted his original Starry Night, sometimes known as Starry Night Over the Rhône.

Georges Seurat, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, 1884-6

French artist and color theorist Georges Seurat was one of the inventors of Pointillism, a painting technique that applies paint to the canvas using small dots of color. His massive magnum opus, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte displays his mastery of the unique style.

Fun fact: Seurat was just 26 years old when he completed this painting.

Expressionism

Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893

One of the pioneers of Norwegian Expressionism, Edvard Munch's stylistic approach to conveying emotion, particularly feelings of anguish, is best displayed in his iconic masterpiece, The Scream.

Fun fact: This painting inspired the killer's mask in Wes Craven's movie franchise, Scream. The director said of the painting: "It's a classic reference to just the pure horror of parts of the 20th century, or perhaps just human existence."

Cubism

Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, 1907

Few artists can boast a portfolio as numerous and diverse as Pablo Picasso. A pioneer of several different styles, he is perhaps best known for his works in Cubism. And while Les Demoiselles d'Avignon is often considered to be a proto-Cubist painting, it still exhibits an interest in shapes, perspective, and simplification of forms.

Fun fact: Henri Matisse was Picasso's rival for years, and when Les Demoiselles d'Avignon was revealed, Matisse publicly criticized the painting. He believed it undermined modern art.

Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2, 1912

Although Duchamp's painting Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 was initially rejected by the Cubists as being too Futurist in style, the work was subsequently recognized as an example of both movements and a modern masterpiece. Like the Cubists, it utilizes fragmentation and simplification of shapes, and like the Futurists it portrays movement.

Fun fact: Duchamp's brothers hated the piece and tried to censor it. Duchamp had hoped to debut the painting in the Salon des Indépendants's spring exhibition of Cubist works. However, it was rejected by the committee, and the artist's brothers urged him to withdraw the work or paint over the piece. Duchamp refused to change his artwork, and later recalled, "I said nothing to my brothers. But I went immediately to the show and took my painting home in a taxi. It was really a turning point in my life, I can assure you. I saw that I would not be very much interested in groups after that."

Pablo Picasso, Guernica, 1937

Painted towards the end of the Cubist art movement, Picasso's Guernica is one of the most prominent examples of anti-war art. It captures the anguish of both people and animals that is caused by unnecessary violence.

Fun fact: The main subjects in the painting are women. One powerful figure is depicted screaming in agony as she holds a dead baby in her arms. Another holds her arms in the air holding an oil lamp, signifying hope.

Surrealism

René Magritte, The Treachery of Images, 1929

Magritte's Surrealist paintings are known for their unique sense of irony and wit. One of his most famous pieces, The Treachery of Images, insists that the pipe depicted "is not a pipe" because it is simply a representation of one.

Fun fact: The painting received some bad reviews from critics who thought it suggested the idea of nihilism. In an interview, Magritte defended himself by stating, "The famous pipe. How people reproached me for it! And yet, could you stuff my pipe? No, it's just a representation, is it not? So if I had my picture 'This is a pipe,' I'd have been lying!"

Salvador Dalí, The Persistence of Memory, 1931

The Persistence of Memory was painted at the height of the Surrealist art movement and considered to be Salvador Dalí 's most iconic works. It displays outlandish subject matter evocative of a dreamscape. Even today, the melting clock is synonymous with the Spanish artist's name.

Fun fact: Dalí was probably hallucinating when he painted the piece. Around the time of the artworks's creation, the surrealist was practicing his "paranoiac-critical method." Dalí would attempt to enter a state of self-induced psychotic hallucinations so that he could create what he called "hand-painted dream photographs."

Frida Kahlo, The Two Fridas, 1939

Many of Frida Kahlo's paintings explored her personal life through Surrealist imagery. The Two Fridas was created after the Mexican artist separated from her husband Diego Rivera and explores two sides of herself joined by clasped hands and a long vein. Although it is classified as Surrealist in style, Kahlo insisted that it portrayed her life, and was quoted as saying, "I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality."

Fun fact: The original Two Fridas was almost life-sized and was Kahlo's largest painting.

This article has been edited and updated.

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20 Famous Paintings From Western Art History Any Art Lover Should Know

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Since the emergence of the Italian Renaissance, the history of western art began a fascinating course through different stylistic genres. While 15th-century painting focused on portraying the ideal, the subsequent movements explored many other aesthetics and ideas, often in reaction to their historical predecessor.

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Deux personnages fantastiques de Joan Mirò - 1976 - Esplanade de la Défense 

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Deux personnages fantastiques de Joan Mirò - 1976 - Esplanade de la Défense 

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“The Arnolfini Portrait,” 1434

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Nearly 100 years before Leonardo da Vinci (c. 1452-1519) created the , another painter was setting the standard for realistic oil portraiture. Born in what is now Belgium, artist Jan van Eyck (c. 1390-1441) was an early master of the oil medium and used it to create meticulously detailed compositions.

His most prominent work, The Arnolfini Portrait, remains an icon of the Northern Renaissance-encapsulating many of the aesthetic ideals and technical innovations of the time period. However, there is more to the masterpiece than its rich color palette. Hidden in the design are layers of iconography which help to tell the story of the couple depicted.

Here, we will explore how Van Eyck's masterful achievement of painting came to be and look at some of its well-placed symbolism.

The Northern Renaissance and Jan van Eyck
At the same time the Italian Renaissance revived classical aesthetics in 15th century Italy, the Northern Renaissance swept through artists north of the Alps-particularly, in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, and England. Like its southern counterpart, this period also emphasized realism but with a focus on painting and printmaking.
Flemish artist Jan van Eyck is considered to be one of the most notable painters of the Northern Renaissance and produced a number of highly religious works. Although oil painting had existed for some time, Van Eyck is credited with being the first to utilize its potential for color and realism.

The Ghent Altarpiece is considered to be his first masterpiece in the medium, which he and his brother Hubert (who was also an artist) painted over a ten-year period. It displays a rejection of the idealized Medieval style in favor of more realistic art that was rooted in almost a scientific observation of nature.

Painting The Arnolfini Portrait
In 1434, about a year after the altarpiece's completion, Van Eyck began working on The Arnolfini Portrait, also called The Arnolfini Wedding. It depicts a wealthy merchant-presumed to be Giovanni di Nicolau di Arnolfini-and his wife in a lavishly decorated room which showcases their opulent wealth.
At first glance, The Arnolfini Portrait stands out for the intensity of its color palette. On the left side of the piece, the man dons a heavy blue-black coat with fur trim, and on the right, his wife wears an emerald overdress with textured sleeves. Each article of clothing and piece of jewelry seems to glow on the canvas.

Van Eyck achieved this depth of color by using the wet-on-wet technique, in which he added layers of wet paint before the previous layers have dried. This allowed him to expertly blend colors and create a sense of three-dimensionality on the canvas. Additionally, the artist applied layers of translucent glazes to the painting to accentuate not only the realism of the figures but also the luxury of the home.

Iconography in the Painting
Although the identity of the subjects is not certain, the woman's headdress suggests that they are indeed a married couple, as only unmarried women wore their hair down in 15th century Flanders. However, contrary to what many viewers think, the wife is not pregnant but is only holding her voluminous overdress at her chest, which was customary for the time.
The exact meaning behind the couple's display of joining hands is still debated among art historians. While some suggest that it is symbolic of a marriage contract, others believe it is a gesture of consent for the wife to act on behalf of the husband's business dealings.
Most of the objects on display in the room-like the chandelier, dyed fabrics, and imported foods-are there to subtly signify the couple's immense wealth. On the back wall of the room is a convex mirror which shows a reflection of two people, one of whom is very likely Van Eyck. The mirror itself is thought to suggest the eye of God observing the scene.
Above the mirror is a fanciful Latin inscription that says "Jan van Eyck was here 1434." This reaffirms the artist's presence in his own work.
Many of Van Eyck's color choices are believed to be indicative of hidden meanings. The woman's green dress, for instance, could possibly symbolize hope, most likely the hope of having a child. Likewise, the red curtains and bedsheets in the background could imply intimacy between the married couple. Between them is a small dog which is commonly included in paintings as a symbol for fidelity. Altogether, the iconography ofThe Arnolfini Portrait weaves a picture of an affluent merchant couple basking in the riches of their success. At the same time, it also displays a mastery of color, space, and storytelling by Van Eyck that was revolutionary for the time.
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How to Decipher the Symbolism in Jan van Eyck's Famous 'Arnolfini Portrait'

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Nearly 100 years before Leonardo da Vinci (c. 1452-1519) created the , another painter was setting the standard for realistic oil portraiture. Born in what is now Belgium, artist Jan van Eyck (c. 1390-1441) was an early master of the oil medium and used it to create meticulously detailed compositions.

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Au temps des cathédrales : L'époque romane

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Think "creative genius" and a parade of self-portraits from the history of art, each brooding intensely before an unfinished canvas, flashes across your mind. You know the ones: from the rumpled nobility of Rembrandt's Self-Portrait with Two Circles (1665) to the smouldering introspection of Vincent van Gogh's iconic Self-Portrait as a Painter (1886), from the bashful gaze of Francisco Goya's Self-Portrait in a Studio (1790) to the circumspect squint of Paul Gauguin's Self-Portrait with a Palette (1894). So masculine is the stereotype of the aloof artist, lifting his paintbrush like an existential barbell freighted with psychological weight, it is almost unimaginable that the tradition should have begun with a corseted 20-year-old young woman, whose contribution to cultural history and to shaping our modern idea of the artistic temperament - trapped in a prism of preoccupied thought - has gone largely unappreciated for nearly half a millennium.

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There is every reason to conclude, as art historians have, that an absorbing self-portrait by a gifted young Flemish Renaissance painter by the name of Caterina van Hemessen, painted in 1548, is likely the first self-portrayal of an artist, male or female, at work at the easel. Such attributions are a risky business, of course. Just ask the endless succession of nominees for inventor of abstract painting (now Kandinsky, now Hilma af Klint, now JMW Turner...). There's always a chance that an earlier example, unfairly forgotten by time, will come to light.

But in the case of Hemessen's transfixing masterpiece, it isn't simply the posture - the young woman depicting herself in meta-mid-brushstroke as she sets out to create the very same painting that we see before us - that distinguishes the work as one of the most pioneering in the history of image-making. The depth and complexity of the small, oil-on-oak panel's reflection on the very nature of creativity and self-invention is incontestably ground-breaking and changed forever the way artists presented themselves to the world.

Hemessen's painting is one of the most pioneering in the history of image-making (Credit: Getty Images)

At first glance, it's the slightly unsettling, unrequited stare of the prim sitter, gazing past us to a mirror that sits somewhere outside the frame, that piques our attention. That her plush velvet sleeves are at odds with the grubby task at hand - smudging pigment and oil on a sloppy palette - adds to the curious sense of staging.

It isn't long before our eyes are pulled deeper into the painting's mystery by the teasing inscription that Hemessen has inserted. In the murky void between the larger likeness of herself that dominates the right half of the image and the smaller self-portrait that the painter-within-the-painting has begun to create on the primed oak panel that rests on the easel on the left, it reads: "Ego Caterina de Hemessen me pinxi 1548 Etatis suae 20" (or "I, Caterina of the Hemessens, painted me in 1548 at the age of 20".)

Hemessen's message is ambiguous, and open to interpretation (Credit: Getty Images)

Though it was customary for portraitists to inscribe their works with captions identifying their sitters, in this instance, the language is anything but clarifying in its function and serves ingeniously to intensify the panel's visual verve with a level of semantic, psychological, and philosophical intrigue. Who, after all, is speaking these wafting, weightless words? Are we to imagine that they are being breathed ghostily down the centuries from the departed lips of the artist herself - a gifted stylist who, in an era when few female artists made much headway, so distinguished herself that the queen consort of Hungary and Bohemia, Mary of Austria, retained her services? Or is this declaration, "I Caterina...", the ventriloquised whisper from the motionless mouth of the artist's alter ego in the painting - a silent semblance of self whose absent eyes stare out assertively but refuse to meet ours? Or does the "me" in "I ... painted me" attach instead to that ever-emerging almost-self on the panel-within-the-panel who is, if we follow the logic of the painting's depiction to its conclusion, the eventual, irreducible "me" that will ultimately be created? Hemessen's portrait presumes the existence of three distinct selves, refracted like a ray of white light in a prism into the bright spectrum of the painter, the painted, and the yet-to-be-painted - a trio locked forever in a spinning phantasmagoria of identity.
A collision of identities
There can be little doubting that Hemessen deliberately hinged so much of the work's intensity on the impenetrable poetry of her riddling inscription. Trained by her father, Jan Sanders van Hemessen, a leading figure of the Romanist School (16th-Century Low Country artists who'd travelled to Rome) in the Flemish Renaissance, she knew her art history well. The patterning of the language of her floating caption was an unambiguous allusion to what is still, to this day, one of the most arresting self-portraits ever made: Albrecht Dürer's Self-Portrait at Twenty-Eight (1500).

Albrecht Dürer's Self-Portrait at Twenty-Eight (1500) also features an inscription (Credit: Getty Images)

Created half a century before Hemessen's, Dürer's painting likewise positions its integral Latin inscription at eye-level: "Albertus Durerus Noricus ipſum me propriis ſic effingebam coloribus ætatis anno XXVIII" (or, "I, Albrecht Dürer of Nuremberg portrayed myself in everlasting colours aged twenty-eight years"). It has widely been acknowledged by scholars that Dürer's own Self-Portrait is itself a daring collision of identities as the German Renaissance master boldly blurs his likeness into that of countless depictions of the risen Christ, eyes polished into an eternal gaze, raising his hand with otherworldly authority to divvy up souls on Judgement Day.

As with Dürer's image, Hemessen collated her identity with that of Christ (Credit: Getty Images)

By alluding audaciously to Dürer's celebrated self-portrait, Hemessen isn't merely projecting confidence in her own skill or proclaiming inflated artistic ambition. She is doing something much more outrageous: inviting us subliminally to perceive her very existence as spiritually contiguous with that of Christ, the Saviour. If you have any doubt about that astonishing intention, look again at the barely begun painting-within-a-painting that sits on the easel before her, just below those inserted words.

The position of the paintbrush has its own significance (Credit: Getty Images)

The paintbrush that Hemessen is holding horizontally with her right hand and the vertical maulstick (a painter's prop used to steady an artist's arm) that leans upright against the panel, nudged in place by her palette-gripped left hand, are carefully positioned to form an unmistakable cross. Against the fledgling self-portrait that she has started to describe on the white panel, this superimposed cross becomes an insinuated crucifix thrust upon the emerging image of the artist. Hemessen appears to be asserting that her vision and her craft at once redeem and torture her - a sentiment that would have far-reaching implications for how future generations of artists perceived their own condition.
Mirror image
The intriguing sense of artistic and spiritual mirroring activated by the self-portrait - of Hemessen merging her identity now with Dürer, now with Christ - is magnified by a mystery of actual optical mirroring that hangs over any perception of this perplexing painting. To appreciate any self-portrait is to presume the existence of a looking glass used by the artist and positioned somewhere outside the painting's frame - a materially reflective surface that makes possible the image the painter is creating.

But in Hemessen's reflection, something doesn't add up. In the painting we have before us, the artist's head is in the top right of the panel, whereas in the panel on the easel, the painting within the painting, the fragment head is in the top left. It is as if Hemessen has cleverly corrected the optical inversion of the image of herself that the mirror she is looking into, outside the frame, has created. As a result, it is the barely begun and fragmentary self-portrait-within-the-self-portrait that is truer to life than the finished painting we see before us.

By playfully entangling herself (and us) in a mind-bending puzzle of mirrors, Hemessen has created more than a rollicking retinal riddle. She has produced a profound visual treatise on the very nature and substance of spiritual and physical imitation - a topic at the centre of contemporary religious thought. A century before Hemessen painted her self-portrait, the late Medieval Dutch-German theologian Thomas à Kempis published his influential Christian devotional book The Imitation of Christ, a guide to spiritual life that seizes upon the prop of the mirror to emphasise the importance of reflecting the holiness of the universe. "If your heart were right," à Kempis writes in the book's fourth chapter, "then every created thing would be a mirror of life for you and a book of holy teaching, for there is no creature so small and worthless that it does not show forth the goodness of God." A mirror is never just a mirror. In Hemessen's day, it was a crucible of virtue, a sounding board of salvation.

Amplifying the significance of the mirror in the imagination of the time, and of even deeper resonance to Hemessen's work, are the writings of the 14th-Century Italian mystic, St Catherine of Siena, whose teachings had been in popular circulation in Europe since the beginning of the 16th Century. As if presciently sanctioning the visual verve of Hemessen's painting, in which the artist dares to see herself not merely performing a function typically assigned to men (painting), but assuming aspects of the male Christ, Catherine of Siena challenged the notion that women were not equally summoned to see themselves as mirrors of Christ. Marshalling the metaphor of the looking glass, she asserts that Christ is "a mirrour that needis I moste biholde, in the which myrrour is representid to me that I am thin ymage & creature".

Caught in a crossfire of ricocheting reflections - religious and feminist, optical and artistic - Hemessen's inexhaustible panel deserves credit for tracing the cultural and psychological axes against which all subsequent self-portraiture will plot itself. Her underappreciated painting in many ways establishes the themes that far-better-known self-portraits from Rembrandt to Cindy Sherman, Artemisia Gentileschi to Picasso, would explore in the ensuing centuries, works that have come to define not merely the respective oeuvres of those exceptional artists, but the story of art itself in the last half millennium. What keeps our eyes transfixed on those masterpieces by Van Gogh and Frida Kahlo is the poignancy of their comprehension, their hope, that perhaps some element of ourselves can survive the fleeting dabs and strokes of our moments in time, can survive as an energy that echoes across ages - an instinct that Caterina van Hemessen gave deft voice to in the confounding physics of her mysterious masterpiece.
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Caterina van Hemessen: An unknown visual pioneer

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Think "creative genius" and a parade of self-portraits from the history of art, each brooding intensely before an unfinished canvas, flashes across your mind.

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Who Are We Making Hyper-Realistic Renders For?

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Who Are We Making Hyper-Realistic Renders For?

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The question may seem straightforward, but the answer can be very complex, leading to a whole series of issues related to the target audience of hyper-realistic architectural renderings, as well as to what their goals are.

Even though the target audience may not be a client and the project may not actually be built, one of the main virtues of this style of visualization is that it delivers an image very similar to reality. For this reason, hyper-realistic renderings are often confused with photographs of built environments.

This was possible due to a process of constant improvements in technology, software, and rendering techniques, together with the advent of visualization studios that specialize in the production of 3D models and hyper-realistic images.

In architecture, 3D visualizations such as physical models, sketches, and collages, are essential for the understanding of the project, especially when it comes to people who are not familiar with technical, two-dimensional drawings like cross-sections or floor plans. As hyper-realistic renderings evolve, visualizations have reached very elaborate levels of detail. Adjusting settings like roughness, reflections, and other aspects of each texture in the environment, combined with precise camera positioning and post-production editing, results in a scene that looks almost like a real photograph.

While all these features can offer a sense of reality, on the other hand, they also contribute to a new perception of it. That is, the limits between real and virtual become blurred, and precisely because of this, one can fabricate an impression of what the building will look like when finished. This happens, for example, when real estate developments fail to depict the surroundings in their advertisements, making people believe that the building offers wide views of natural landscapes to boost sales.

One might say that this hyperrealism, so to speak, actually seems to depart from the very notion of reality, becoming more of a commercial product than an instrument for the client's comprehension of architectural solutions.
This article is part of the ArchDaily Topic: Rendering, proudly presented by Enscape, the most intuitive real-time rendering and virtual reality plugin for Revit, SketchUp, Rhino, Archicad, and Vectorworks. Enscape plugs directly into your modeling software, giving you an integrated visualization and design workflow.' Learn more about our monthly topics. As always, at ArchDaily we welcome the contributions of our readers; if you want to submit an article or project, contact us.
Similar to photography, hyper-realistic rendering has a 'beautifying' effect that can transform an image according to beauty standards, rather than just depicting an object. This seducing quality of hyper-realistic imagery is highly valued for marketing and promoting architectural projects and also in architecture competitions.

Moreover, hyper-realistic renders can play a role in the decision-making process during the development of the project, rather than simply serving as a kind of visual product. For example, being able to see the effects of daylight on the environment and to visualize the combination of different textures can guide the design process, proving to be very useful for architects and architectural firms.

So, are hyper-realistic renders an instrument to assist architects in their design process? Images targeting the general public to provide a better understanding of architecture? Or are they a visually appealing way to attract clients?

These questions seem to suggest further discussions about the role of architectural renders rather than lead to definite answers. In this sense, they emphasize the idea that choosing a style of visualization depends on the project, the architect, and also, to a great extent, on the target audience.

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Who Are We Making Hyper-Realistic Renders For?

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The question may seem straightforward, but the answer can be very complex, leading to a whole series of issues related to the target audience of hyper-realistic architectural renderings, as well as to what their goals are.

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La Joconde ne vous suit pas du regard | Gymnastique, la culture en s'amusant 

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La Joconde ne vous suit pas du regard | Gymnastique, la culture en s'amusant 

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La Joconde ne vous suit pas du regard | Gymnastique, la culture en s'amusant | ARTE

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Every color has a story and the color green is no different. Today, it's most commonly associated with nature. Chlorophyll is the photosynthetic pigment found in plants that allows them to have their fresh, calming hue. This rich color has been all around us as a constant since the beginning of time (as far as we know), so it may seem strange to think of it as something with a past, but the verdant hue has a rich history filled with challenges. In fact, the color green didn't come so naturally to those who tried to manufacture it as a pigment for paintings or decorating objects. At first, the hue was notorious for being a hard color to come by, and its pigments have been some of the most poisonous in history.

Learn more about the color green and how it went from being seen as an arduous and dangerous hue to one that represents nature and wealth.

History of the Color Green

Ancient Green

People have tried for centuries to make a truly green pigment. In ancient Egypt, green was the symbol of regeneration and rebirth. They tried using the copper mineral malachite to paint on tomb walls, however it was expensive and easily turned black over time. The ancient Romans came up with the solution to soak copper plates in wine to create verdigris, a green pigment that comes after weathering the metal. This is this same green hue you would see today on patinated metal roofs, old coins, or sculptures. The ancient Romans used this pigment for mosaics, frescos, and stained glass. This early hue was also used by medieval monks to color manuscripts.

Renaissance Green

In the Middle Ages, the color of clothing indicated a person's social rank and profession. Red was worn by the nobility, while brown and gray was worn by peasants. Green was worn by merchants, bankers, and the gentry. The bride in The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck (1434) wears a bright green dress, signifying the status and wealth of her family.

During this time, more green pigments were developed from natural materials, such as plants, but the colors always faded over time. Early Renaissance painters such as Duccio di Buoninsegna discovered that if he painted faces with a green undercoat, then added pink, it gave the faces a more realistic hue. However, over the centuries the pink has faded, making some faces appear a sickly green.

Toxic Green

In 1775, Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele invented a deadly, bright green hue made with the toxic chemical, arsenite. Called Scheele's Green, it was so popular that by the end of the 19th century, it had replaced the earlier mineral and vegetable dyes-but its invention came with a price.

Scheele's Green was used on paper, wall hangings, fabric, and even children's toys. Some 19th century journals contained reports of children becoming ill in bright green rooms, and ladies in green dresses becoming sick from consuming the toxic vapors. Historians believe the pigment caused the death of French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte in 1821, as his bedroom wallpaper featured the deadly hue.

By the end of the 19th century, a similar pigment called Paris Green replaced Scheele's Green. However, it was still highly toxic. This was the pigment used by French Impressionists such as Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir to create their lush green landscapes. Some believe the pigment may have been responsible for Cézanne's diabetes and Monet's blindness. Paris Green was eventually banned in the 1960s.

Green as a Symbol for Renewal

Today, green is associated with being environmentally conscious-"being green" as some might say. The color is a symbol of sustainability and eco friendliness. However, many versions of the color green are still damaging to that very ethos. Despite all the modern advances in color technology, producing green dyes and pigments is still difficult and many hues continue to feature toxic substances.

One of the most common shades today is called Pigment Green 7. Used in plastics and paper, it contains chlorine, which, when consumed, is known to lead to illness and even death. Another popular hue is Pigment Green 36, which also includes chlorine and potentially hazardous bromide atoms. Moreover, the popular bright Pigment Green 50 is a toxic cocktail of cobalt, titanium, nickel, and zinc oxide.

Despite its harmful chemical makeup, green is still associated with positive feelings such as vitality, freshness, calmness, and revival. In fact, Pantone revealed its Color of the Year as "Greenery" in 2017. The company describes the "life-affirming shade" as "a fresh and zesty yellow-green shade that evokes the first days of spring when nature's greens revive, restore and renew. Illustrative of flourishing foliage and the lushness of the great outdoors, the fortifying attributes of Greenery signals consumers to take a deep breath, oxygenate and reinvigorate."

Related Articles:
The History of the Color Blue: From Ancient Egypt to the Latest Scientific Discoveries The History of the Color Orange: From Tomb Paintings to Modern-Day Jumpsuits The History of the Color Red: From Ancient Paintings to Louboutin Shoes The Color Wheel: Discover the Fascinating History Behind an Artist's Most Powerful Tool

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The History of the Color Green: From a Poisonous Pigment to a Symbol of Environmentalism

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Every color has a story and the color green is no different. Today, it's most commonly associated with nature. Chlorophyll is the photosynthetic pigment found in plants that allows them to have their fresh, calming hue.

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The white lie we've been told about Roman statues

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Cette peinture sur bois de Paolo Uccello représente Saint Georges transperçant, de sa lance, le dragon qui s'apprêtait à dévorer la fille du roi. Ce thème, d'origine orientale, a été repris par les chrétiens pour symboliser la délivrance de l'église opprimée par le paganisme. Ce combat est un moment important de la légende de Saint Georges. On en trouve de nombreux exemples en peinture, comme en sculpture. Le profil de médaille de la princesse, l'arabesque du dragon qui semble sorti d'un écusson gothique et la représentation du saint sont traditionnels alors que le paysage est traité de façon moderne par l'introduction de la perspective. Cette dualité est très caractéristique de l'art de Paolo Uccello.

En détail

Au centre de la composition, un imposant rocher sépare le paysage en deux. Chaque partie présente des points de fuite, des traitements de la perspective et des arrière-plans différents. Cette complexité au niveau de la perspective est très caractéristique de l'art de Paolo Uccello.

Le saviez-vous ?

Nélie Jacquemart a pu admirer cette toile dans le palais florentin de son antiquaire préféré. Mais, l'œuvre faisant l'objet d'une interdiction de sortie du territoire, Nélie dut attendre la vente londonienne de 1899 pour pouvoir l'acheter.

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Cette peinture sur bois de Paolo Uccello représente Saint Georges transperçant, de sa lance, le dragon qui s'apprêtait à dévorer la fille du roi. Ce thème, d'origine orientale, a été repris par les chrétiens pour symboliser la délivrance de l'église opprimée par le paganisme. Ce combat est un moment important de la légende de Saint Georges.

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Pay less for domain names. Bulk pricing and private domain name registration options. Transfer domain names risk-free.

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Les photos d' Annie Leibovitz racontent l'histoire de la vie publique des 40 dernières années et lui confèrent sans aucun doute le statut de plus grande portraitiste de notre temps.

Annie Leibovitz est devenue une légende vivante par la Bibliothèque du Congrès de Washington et a été nommée Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres par le gouvernement français. Elle a également reçu un Lifetime Achievement Award de l' International Center of Photography.

Annie Leibovitz est une photographe américaine contemporaine qui est surtout connue pour ses portraits de célébrités. Ses images veulent capturer les personnalités et la vie personnelle de ses motifs et montrer des portraits intimes et des moments uniques qu'ils montrent sous une lumière drôle et expressive.

Ses photos, souvent sous une lumière dramatique, montrent des célébrités nues, dans de magnifiques robes, couvertes de peinture ou dans des réservoirs remplis d'eau ou de bains de lait.

Le père de Leibovitz a eu une carrière militaire et sa mère était danseuse. Annie Leibovitz est née à Waterbury, Connecticut, le 2 octobre 1949. La famille vivait aux Philippines en 1967 lorsque Annie Leibovitz s'est inscrite au San Francisco Art Institute (BFA, 1971), avec l'intention de devenir peintre. Après avoir suivi un cours de photographie de nuit , cependant, elle est rapidement devenue absorbée par ce médium.

Annie Leibovitz Photographe

En 1970, alors qu'elle était encore étudiante, elle reçoit sa première affectation commerciale pour le Magazine Rolling stone : pour photographier John Lennon . Trois ans plus tard, Leibovitz est devenue la photographe en chef de la publication, dirigeant ses énergies vers une présentation unique des principales personnalités de la musique rock contemporaine.

En 1975, elle a documenté la tournée de concerts nord-américaine de six mois des Rolling Stones , au cours de laquelle elle a pris plusieurs photos largement reproduites du guitariste Keith Richards et du chanteur Mick Jagger.

Elle est également devenue dépendante de la cocaïne, une habitude qu'elle a prise quelques années plus tard lorsqu'elle a rejoint le personnel du magazine Vanity Fair .

Son œuvre la plus célèbre de cette période est peut-être un portrait de Lennon et Yoko Ono qui a été publié sur la couverture de Rolling Stone en janvier 1981.

Sur la photo , prise quelques heures seulement avant l'assassinat de Lennon, l'auteur-compositeur-interprète est nu et enroulé comme un fœtus autour de sa femme entièrement vêtue.

En 1983, Annie Leibovitz a produit un spectacle de 60 tirages qui a fait le tour de l'Europe et des États-Unis . Le livre d'accompagnement, Annie Leibovitz: photographies , fut un best-seller .

Cette même année, elle rejoint Vanity Fair , qui a élargi son bassin de sujets pour inclure des stars de cinéma, des athlètes et des personnalités politiques.

Pour ses portraits, Annie Leibovitz - qui considérait ses séances photographiques comme des collaborations - passait généralement des jours à observer la vie quotidienne de ses sujets et travaillait à en faire des portraits uniques et pleins d'esprit, chacun étant une distillation techniquement précise .

En 1983, elle a reçu le prix de la photographe de l'année de l'American Society of Magazine Photographers .

Elle a commencé à travailler comme photographe publicitaire en 1986, gagnant des clients tels Honda, American Express (la campagne "Portraits") et Gap ("Individual de style "). La campagne publicitaire d'American Express qui a utilisé ses photos a remporté un prix Clio, reconnaissant l'excellence de la publicité dans le monde entier, en 1987.

Elle a ensuite participé au California Milk Processor Board (la campagne "Got Milk?") Et a tourné une série de publicités mettant en vedette des célébrités comme les personnages Disney pour les parcs à thème du même nom.

En 2011, elle a photographié sept athlètes féminines de haut niveau pour la société de vêtements de sport Nike campagne "Make Yourself". Son style tout au long de ces projets a été caractérisé par des décors soigneusement mis en scène, un éclairage superbe et son utilisation de marque de couleurs vives.

En 1991, Annie Leibovitz a eu sa première exposition au musée; elle est devenue la première femme et le deuxième photographe vivant à exposer à la National Portrait Gallery de Washington, DC Un livre d'accompagnement, Photographies: Annie Leibovitz 1970-1990 , a été publié en 1991.

Elle a également mérité beaucoup d'éloges pour ses portraits d'Olympiens américains prises pour une exposition au Jeux d'été de 1996 à Atlanta , qui ont ensuite été publiés dans le livre Olympic Portraits (1996).

En 1999, elle a publié une collection de photographies intitulée Women , avec un essai de l' intellectuelle et écrivaine Susan Sontag , qui était son amante.

En 2000 Annie Leibovitz a été parmi le premier groupe d'Américains à désigner une bibliothèque du Congrès Living Legend .

Parmi les publications ultérieures de son travail figurent American Music (2003); La vie d'un photographe: 1990-2005 (2006), qui contenait de nombreuses images documentant la vie personnelle d' Annie Leibovitz; Annie Leibovitz au travail (2008); et Annie Leibovitz: Portraits 2005-2016 (2017).

Le perfectionnisme de Leibovitz dans son travail (les budgets ont explosé et aucune dépense n'a été épargnée) et son style de vie touché par les célébrités ont joué un rôle dans la production d'une dette de 24 millions de dollars, pour laquelle elle a été poursuivie en 2009.

Les réalisations de la photographe ont été célébrées dans Annie Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens (2009), un film documentaire réalisé pour la série télévisée American Masters par sa sœur Barbara.

Pendant ses difficultés financières, Leibovitz a commencé à travailler sur un projet personnel, photographiant des lieux et des objets qui avaient du sens pour elle, et les images ont été recueillies dans le livre Pilgrimage (2011).

Richard Avedon et Henri Cartier-Bresson ont influencé leur travail et les photos de vacances qu'elle a prises lorsqu'elle était enfant ont été le point de départ de son intérêt pour la photographie.

Elle a dirigé le département photo du magazine Rolling Stone avant d'être la première photographe à contribuer à la nouvelle version de Vanity Fair.

Ses photos de célébrités - de Barack Obama à Lady Gaga - capturent la vie intérieure et la personnalité cachée des personnes les plus célèbres du monde.

En plus de son travail éditorial, notamment pour Vogue, elle a signé plusieurs campagnes publicitaires primées.

Les portraits d'Annie Leibovitz

Les photos d' Annie Leibovitz ont le pouvoir d'immortaliser non seulement l'individu, mais l'esprit d'une époque entière, que ce soit les stars de la musique Patti Smith, Sting, Bruce Sprinsteen ou Adèle, les mannequins Kate Moss et Gisele Bündchen, ou les acteurs Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley et Scarlett Johansson.

Sa série Femmes, ses portraits pour Disney Dream, ses reportages sur le siège de Sarajevo dans les années 1990 et ses photos de paysages démontrent l'étendue de sa vision du monde.

Si Leibovitz est devenu célèbre dans les années 1970, comme le raconte son autobiographie A Photographer's Life: 1990-2005, son travail n'a pas perdu de sa pertinence; elle a récemment photographié des personnalités comme Mark Zuckerberg, définissant ainsi une nouvelle génération à travers le prisme classique du portrait.

Ses photos sont à la fois intimistes et emblématiques, stylistiquement variées et pourtant toujours les siennes. Ses portraits de personnalités comme Richard Nixon, John Lennon et Yoko Ono, Demi Moore, Susan Sontag, Whoopi Goldberg, Meryl Streep, Princess Diana, The Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger ou la reine Elizabeth II sont devenus les représentations ultimes de chacun d'eux. ils révèlent leur nature et leur relation à la célébrité.

Les Photographies marquantes d'Annie Leibovitz

Sonia Braga a été photographiée pour une campagne American Express en 1991.

John Lennon et Yoko Ono pour la couverture de Rolling Stone du 22 janvier 1981 , prise le jour du meurtre de Lennon. Leibovitz l'a appelé "la photographie de ma vie" et la photo pour laquelle on se souviendrait d'elle.

Prisonniers de la prison d'État de Soledad en Californie, chacun serrant dans ses bras un membre de sa famille en visite, chaque couple se tenant à quelques mètres l'un de l'autre, pris à Noël 1971.

Linda Ronstadt dans un slip rouge, sur son lit, cherchant un verre d'eau dans une couverture de 1976 pour le magazine Rolling Stone .

Demi Moore a fait l'objet de deux couvertures Vanity Fair très médiatisées prises par Leibovitz: More Demi Moore (août 1991) mettant en vedette Moore enceinte et nue, et Demi's Birthday Suit (août 1992), montrant Moore nue avec un costume peint sur son corps .

Marion Cotillard pour la collection Automne / Hiver 2009 de la Lady Dior - Lady Rouge sac campagne et pour la couverture Novembre 2009 de Vogue avec le casting de neuf .

Fleetwood Mac pour un numéro de 1977 du magazine Rolling Stone . Stevie Nicks et Mick Fleetwood sont représentés couchés ensemble, tout comme Christine McVie et Lindsey Buckingham à l'autre bout du lit. John McVie est montré en train de lire le magazine Playboy .

Whoopi Goldberg allongé dans une baignoire pleine de lait, tiré d'en haut.

Christo , entièrement enveloppé, de sorte que le spectateur doit prendre la parole de l'artiste que Christo est réellement sous l'emballage.

David Cassidy sur la couverture de Rolling Stone le représentant nu de sa tête à sa taille.

Dolly Parton vamping pour l'appareil photo tandis qu'Arnold Schwarzenegger fléchit ses biceps derrière elle, présenté dans une diffusion photo de Rolling Stone le 25 août 1977 .

Dan Aykroyd et John Belushi comme The Blues Brothers , avec leurs visages peints en bleu.

Keira Knightley et Scarlett Johansson , à la fois nu, avec un tout habillé Tom Ford , pour la couverture de Vanity Fair ' Mars 2006 S Hollywood problème.

Knut avec Leonardo DiCaprio , une couverture de Vanity Fair 2007 .

La reine Elizabeth II à l'occasion de sa visite d'État aux États-Unis en 2007 et en 2016 au château de Windsor pour marquer son 90e anniversaire.

Jackie et Joan Collins dans une limousine, Los Angeles 1987.

Sting , nu dans le désert, recouvert de boue pour se fondre dans le décor.

Closeup portrait de Pete Townshend encadré par sa main saignante dégoulinant de vrai sang sur le côté de son visage. [85]

Portrait et légende de "Fire" " Patti Smith prend feu".

Couvertures d'album Cyndi Lauper , She's So Unusual et True Colors .

Bruce Springsteen , né aux États-Unis et couvertures d'album Tunnel of Love .

Gisele Bündchen et LeBron James sur la couverture d'avril 2008 de Vogue America. ]

Miley Cyrus de Vanity Fair photo où la star de 15 ans est apparu semi-nue, conduisant à une controverse.

Michael Jackson à deux reprises pour la couverture du magazine Vanity Fair , y compris d'autres photographies supplémentaires de lui qui n'étaient pas présentées sur la couverture du magazine.

Bill Gates pour la couverture du livre de Gates, The Road Ahead .

Famille de Barack Obama à la Maison Blanche.

Johnny Depp et Kate Moss au Royalton Hotel, New York, en 1994. Une mousse nue allongée sur un lit tandis que Depp entièrement vêtue est allongée entre ses jambes, couvrant son abdomen.

Lance Armstrong monte son vélo dans le buff sous la pluie. Il a été montré dans Vanity Fair ' s 1999 numéro de Décembre. ]

Lady Gaga pour Vogue et Vanity Fair .

Rihanna pour Vogue en 2011 et 2012.

Le casting des Misérables ( Hugh Jackman , Russell Crowe , Anne Hathaway , Amanda Seyfried , Eddie Redmayne , Helena Bonham Carter et Sacha Baron Cohen ) pour Vogue en 2012.

Benedict Cumberbatch pour Vogue en 2013.

Kim Kardashian , Kanye West et leur fille North pour Vogue en 2014.

Dane DeHaan pour Prada .

Amy Van Dyken posant sous l'eau avec une moustache de lait dans le cadre de la campagne Milk Mustache de 1996 .

Le casting de Star Wars: The Force Awakens pour Vanity Fair en 2015 et le casting de Star Wars: The Last Jedi pour Vanity Fair [98] en 2017.

Caitlyn Jenner pour Vanity Fair en 2015.

Mark Zuckerberg et sa femme enceinte Priscilla Chan en 2015.

Adele pour Vogue en 2016.

Christopher Hitchens au dîner le soir de son mariage avec Carol Blue. Utilisé sur la couverture du livre d'Hitchens For the Sake of Argument .

Serena Williams sur la couverture de Vanity Fair août 2017, alors qu'elle était enceinte.

Les récompenses d'Annie Leibovitz

Doctorat honorifique des beaux-arts 2018, Rhode Island School of Design

Médaille d'art Paez 2015 de VAEA

Prix ​​Prince de Asturias pour la communication 2013

2009 Médaille du centenaire et bourse honorifique de la Royal Photographic Society (HonFRPS) en reconnaissance d'une contribution importante et soutenue à l'art de la photographie

2003 Les Lucie Awards

1999 ADC Hall of Fame

Photographies

Photographies 1970-1990

"Danseurs: photographies d'Annie Leibovitz"

"Projet de danse du chêne blanc: photographies d'Annie Leibovitz"

Portraits olympiques

Femmes

Musique américaine

A Photographer's Life 1990-2005

Annie Leibovitz: Au travail

Annie Leibovitz (livre au format SUMO avec 250 photographies avec un livre supplémentaire comprenant des essais d'Annie)

Annie Leibovitz: Portraits 2005-2016

Annie Leibovitz , éd. par Riitta Raatikainen, éditeur Helsinki City Art Museum , 1999

Eric CANTO Photographe : Photos de concert , portraits, pochettes d'album.

Visitez mon portfolio Visitez le blog Visitez le shop Contactez moi

Annie Leibovitz crée l'événement à Arles avec la Fondation Luma, qui vient d'acquérir ses archives. La célèbre photographe américaine présente The Early Years, une exposition dédiée à ses années d'apprentissage. Cela aurait pu être à New York ou à Los Angeles. Mais à Arles , Annie Leibovitz a dévoilé une dimension sans précédent de son travail avec The Early Years. La photographe de 67 ans, connue dans le monde entier pour ses portraits de stars publiées dans Vogue et Vanity Fair, entre autres, est encore étudiante lorsqu'elle passe ses premières commandes pour le jeune magazine Rolling Stone.

Les premières années ont réuni environ 3000 tirages ... c'est énorme!

Annie Leibovitz : L'idée était que vous vous sentiez dépassé. La photographie vous donne la possibilité de garder toutes les traces de votre voyage. Ce sont mes premières années. L'exposition s'adresse à un jeune photographe qui comprend ce qu'est le travail et ce que signifie avoir une carrière dans ce métier.

Vous êtes surtout connu pour vos portraits d'étoiles soigneusement mis en scène. Toutes les photos de cette exposition ont été pris sur le vif.

Annie Leibovitz : La période des portraits a commencé en 1983, lorsque j'ai été embauchée à Vanity Fair. Avant, mon style rapportait. De 1968 à 1970, pendant mes études au San Francisco Art Institute, j'ai appris à avoir un appareil photo avec moi et à prendre des photos en permanence.

À la fin de la journée, je les ai développés et regardés. J'ai continué à travailler comme ça lors de mon premier contrat pour le magazine Rolling Stone. C'était vraiment ... bizarre: j'étais un enfant, Rod Stewart est entré et m'a demandé quelle pose il devait prendre. Je ne menais pas large. Ce que vous voyez dans cette exposition, c'est un photographe en plein apprentissage.

J'ai donné ma vie, tout ce que j'avais, à la photo. Au point d'y laisser presque ma peau lors de la tournée avec les Rolling Stones, en 1975. Cela m'a pris plusieurs années pour me remettre de ces excès.

Annie Leibovitz : Non ... la photo est un produit dérivé de la réalité; cela vous éloigne des choses. C'est ce qui se passe avec les smartphones, qui donnent à chacun la possibilité de photographier. Mais un photographe ne veut-il pas? Bien sûr. Quand je regarde les images de jeunes reporters publiées dans le New York Times ou le Washington Post, prises dans des conditions extrêmes, je trouve ça très fort. Si j'étais un jeune photographe, c'est ce que j'aimerais faire: le journalisme.

Comment avez-vous conçu cette exposition?

Annie Leibovitz : Je me suis plongé dans mes milliers de planches contact et j'ai réalisé qu'elles ne représentent pas des "moments décisifs", comme ceux d' Henri Cartier-Bresson , que j'admire. Mon travail est plus diffus. Je n'ai donc pas cherché à isoler les meilleurs plans, mais à les présenter comme un film, un making-of.

Avec mon équipe, nous avons loué 1 000 mètres carrés dans le Bronx et avancé, image par image. Cela a pris plus de deux ans, pendant lesquels je travaillais aussi pour Vogue et Vanity Fair.

Vous avez dit être plus intéressée par ce que font les gens...

Annie Leibovitz : Toujours. Je n'ai jamais su mettre en valeur quelqu'un, ni la différence entre le "bon" et le "mauvais" profil. J'ai fini par m'entendre un peu dans l'éclairage, même si je ne suis pas un bon technicien. J'ai des assistants pour ça. Je regarde et compose l'image, mais je n'aime pas diriger les gens. A eux de se projeter.

A quel moment avez-vous décidé de céder vos archives à la fondation Luma?

Annie Leibovitz : J'ai pensé à l'héritage que je voulais laisser à mes enfants et j'ai commencé à me demander où mes archives pourraient trouver leur place. J'ai rencontré Matthieu Humery, directeur du programme d'archives vivantes à la fondation Luma, et je suis venu à Arles où j'ai découvert le projet de Maja Hoffmann: créer une plateforme dédiée à l'image sous toutes ses formes. C'est visionnaire. Il m'a semblé que ce serait formidable de collaborer avec cette nouvelle institution artistique très innovante, dotée de gros moyens. D'autant plus qu'ils aiment mon travail !

Annie Leibovitz : Oui c'est important, je travaille, je ne suis pas morte !

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Annie Leibovitz - Photographe - Présentation, Photos, Portrait 2020

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Les photos d' Annie Leibovitz racontent l'histoire de la vie publique des 40 dernières années et lui confèrent sans aucun doute le statut de plus grande portraitiste de notre temps. Annie Leibovitz est devenue une légende vivante par la Bibliothèque du Congrès de Washington et a été nommée Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres par le gouvernement français.

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Since 2007, when her photographs were discovered and brought to light, Vivian Maier's street photography has captured the imagination of people around the world. Maier, who secretly photographed life on the streets of Chicago and New York for over four decades, is primarily known for her black and white imagery. However, a new book and exhibition is spotlighting her color photography for the first time. Vivian Maier: The Color Work celebrates this visionary artist, one who worked silently and left behind over 150,000 photographs that lay out her way of observing the world. Together New York's Howard Greenberg Gallery and Harper Collins are bringing to the public many photographs that have never before been seen and exposing a new side of Maier's work. While many associate Maier with her beloved Rolleiflex, she also shot roughly 40,000 Ektachrome color slides with a 35mm over the last thirty years of her career.

Maier's color street photography shows the same keen eye for observation and her signature shots, such as her subtle self-portraits, are ever present. Taken from the 1950s to the 1980s, Maier's photographs demonstrate her passion for recording the world around her and, by using color, they become even more immediate to our modern eye.

"Maier was an early poet of color photography," writes Joel Meyerowitz in the foreword to the book. "You can see in her photographs that she was a quick study of human behavior, of the unfolding moment, the flash of a gesture, or the mood of a facial expression-brief events that turned the quotidian life of the street into a revelation for her."

Vivian Maier: The Color Work is on view at the Howard Greenberg Gallery in New York until January 5, 2019. The book, published by Harper Collins, is available online and in bookstores now.

Vivian Maier's color street photography is being celebrated in a new exhibition and book.

My Modern Met granted permission to use images by Howard Greenberg Gallery.

Related Articles:

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Vivian Maier's Poetic Color Photography Is Revealed for the First Time

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Since 2007, when her photographs were discovered and brought to light, Vivian Maier's street photography has captured the imagination of people around the world. Maier, who secretly photographed life on the streets of Chicago and New York for over four decades, is primarily known for her black and white imagery.

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For thirteen years, Sony and the World Photography Organisation have been giving photographers a platform to share their creativity with the world. As the touring exhibition of the 2019 contest continues across Europe, new entries are pouring for the 2020 Sony World Photography Awards. And now the organization has released some of its stunning early entries as it celebrates the announcement of its world-class jury.

Photographers from around the globe are invited to submit work-for free-across four different competitions. For now, the contest is revealing some of the exciting work entered in the Open competition, which awards exceptional stand-alone images taken in 2019. Photographs can be submitted to ten different categories, which include Landscape, Travel, Creative, Portraiture, and Street Photography.

The 2020 jury is filled with industry experts who will evaluate entries based not only on their quality but their ability to create a visual narrative. Members of the Professional category judging panel include Brent Lewis, Photo Editor for The New York Times; Gwen Lee, director of the Singapore International Photography Festival; and Katie Hollander, director of the Annenberg Space for Photography.

"I hope to be excited by work that is dynamic, challenging and brave in its approach," shares photographer and producer Mike Trow, who is chairing the Professional jury. "I want to honor photographers fighting for the sophisticated language of imagery, to celebrate those creating work that invites the viewer to stop, engage with and be compelled to discover more about what they are looking at."

If you're interested in entering the 2020 Sony World Photography Awards, the Open competition is taking entries until January 7, 2020 at 1:00 pm GMT. See the contest's website for more details and deadlines on how to enter the Professional, Youth, and Student competitions.

For thirteen years, the Sony World Photography Awards has highlighted global photography talent.

The 2020 Open Competition awards the best stand-alone photography taken in 2019.

These stunning early entries show just how tough the competition will be.

Photographers can enter-for free-until January 7, 2020.

My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by the World Photography Organisation.

Related Articles:

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Impressive Early Entries from the 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

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For thirteen years, Sony and the World Photography Organisation have been giving photographers a platform to share their creativity with the world. As the touring exhibition of the 2019 contest continues across Europe, new entries are pouring for the 2020 Sony World Photography Awards.

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During his 45-year career, the late photographer Rodney Smith crafted images that continue to delight and perplex us today. Favoring humor, style, and surrealism, his work is as visually stunning as it is playful and thought-provoking. In one photograph, a woman is dressed in a form of elegant camouflage as she enjoys a cup of tea in a field. Another one of his compositions features a dapper man donning a suit. While that alone is not surprising, the man's choice to lounge in a lake certainly is. These images highlight the appeal of Smith's work. Each picture treats unusual sights without fanfare. No one looks surprised at what is happening-it just simply is.

Smith's work will soon be displayed in a new exhibition called Human in Nature: The Art & Wit of Rodney Smith at The Edward Hopper House Museum in Nyack, New York. The 20-piece collection marks the first major U.S. show of Smith's prints since his unfortunate passing two years ago.

Nature was an integral part of Smith's photographic language as he sought to find order within chaos. His desire to do this was not unlike the human urge to tame our outdoor environment and make it less "unruly" with the likes of manicured bushes and trimmed trees. In this way, Smith was interested in our relationship with nature, which is evident in many of his pictures. "The secret for me in all my photographs is the location, using the environment as a studio, editing with light," he said. "I'm always attracted to a location where the hand of man is apparent."

Human in Nature: The Art & Wit of Rodney Smith will be on view from December 7, 2019 to March 8, 2020. Its special programming includes an art talk at the Nyack Library on Saturday, January 25, 2020, with Smith's late wife and collaborator Leslie Smolan.

Photographer Rodney Smith's work is featured in an upcoming exhibition at The Edward Hopper House Museum in Nyack, New York.

Called Human in Nature: The Art & Wit of Rodney Smith, it marks the first major U.S. show of Smith's prints since his unfortunate passing two years ago.

My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by the Estate of Rodney Smith.

Related Articles:

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Legendary Rodney Smith's Whimsical Nature Photography Honored in Upcoming Exhibition

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During his 45-year career, the late photographer Rodney Smith crafted images that continue to delight and perplex us today. Favoring humor, style, and surrealism, his work is as visually stunning as it is playful and thought-provoking. In one photograph, a woman is dressed in a form of elegant camouflage as she enjoys a cup of tea in a field.

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Spencer Tunick (américain, né le 1er janvier 1967 à Middletown) est un photographe contemporain, célèbre pour ses gigantesques clichés de modèles nus et ses installations humaines à travers le monde. Élevé dans une famille juive, Tunick étudie à l'université Emerson de Boston dans le Massachussetts et obtient son diplôme de photographie en 1988.

Son intérêt pour la photographie de nu commence en 1986 lorsqu'il capture un modèle nu à un arrêt de bus à Londres et des dizaines d'autres à la Alleyn's Schools Lower School Hall de Dulwich dans le comté de Southwark.

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Spencer Tunick (américain, né le 1er janvier 1967 à Middletown) est un photographe contemporain, célèbre pour ses gigantesques clichés de modèles nus et ses installations humaines à travers le monde. Élevé dans une famille juive, Tunick étudie à l'université Emerson de Boston dans le Massachussetts et obtient son diplôme de photographie en 1988.

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Informations pratiques

Auditorium
7 avenue Albert de Mun
Paris 16 e
Métro Iéna ou Trocadéro

Inscription obligatoire, entrée libre dans la limite des places disponibles.

Les valises quelle que soit leur taille et les sacs de grande contenance sont désormais interdits dans la Cité.

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Informations pratiques Auditorium 7 avenue Albert de Mun Paris 16 e Métro Iéna ou Trocadéro Inscription obligatoire, entrée libre dans la limite des places disponibles. Les valises quelle que soit leur taille et les sacs de grande contenance sont désormais interdits dans la Cité.

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In Lange's photography, human ingenuity and grace triumph over the unspeakable blows of the Great Depression and other social oppression, even when hope is in short supply.

In the midst of the Great Depression, the American photographer Dorothea Lange crossed the street from her San Francisco studio to photograph unemployed men in a breadline. Lange's instinct not to shrink from misery but to embrace it evidenced her profound sense of empathy. If we've grown a bit immune to it these days, the havoc wreaked on American life - on global life - by the COVID-19 crisis lends Lange's humanist vision renewed relevance. This spirit is behind the Museum of Modern Art's current exhibition, Dorothea Lange: Words & Pictures. The show, which spans Lange's entire career and is her first major museum survey of her work in 50 years, stresses the social context in which she produced her images.

The most famous of these date from the New Deal period (1933-36), when the government hired artists to document poverty and unemployment affecting millions of Americans. Lange started at home: In "White Angel Breadline, San Francisco" (1933), a cluster of men huddle with their backs to us, while a lone man in the foreground faces us, his hat pulled over his eyes, his shoulders slouched and arms resting on a wood beam. Lange focuses on his empty cup and ravaged hands, clutched in front of him.

She returned frequently to the intersection of unemployment, dignity, and masculinity - for example, with the crumpled, defeated posture of the seated figure in "Man beside Wheelbarrow" (1934); the weathered hand of a farm worker in "Migration Cotton Picker, Eloy, Arizona" (1940); and the clasped hands behind an old man's back in "Back" (1935, from the Farm Administration portrait series). Oftentimes capturing arrested motion or collapse rather than rest, these forceful images encapsulate despair.

Text is central to the exhibition's emphasis on narratives. MoMA's photography curator, Sarah Meister, accompanies the photographs with pages from publications in which Lange's work appeared, including An American Exodus and Survey Graphic. In the latter, agricultural economist - and Lange's husband - Paul Taylor (who also co-authored An American Exodus) explains why San Francisco workers are on strike.

Lange's "Street Demonstration" (1934) accompanies the text. While it's an essential coupling, the photograph also reminds us that art can arrive at messages sideways. Although we may note first the towering figure of a policeman, hunkering down in front of the crowd, on the left a small child daringly looks straight at Lange. On the right, a short elderly demonstrator opens his feet wide, as if mimicking the policeman's stance. This multivalent composition - at once committed, serious, defiant, and yet playful- is the true mark of Lange's craft. In her photography, human ingenuity and grace triumph over the unspeakable blows of the Great Depression, even when hope is in short supply.

Many evocative portraits are of women and girls. In "Woman of the High Plains, Texas Panhandle" (June 1938), a woman clasps her forehead, staring out over empty horizon. Her left hand rests on the back of her neck; her sinewy torso fills the frame. Gentle yet steely, scrappy yet sublime, the image projects resilience. Lange's notes, which she made often, recap the woman's words: "This county's a hard country. They won't help bury you here. If you die, you're dead, that's all."

In the Farm Administration photographs, there's the staggering image of a diminutive Black woman, identified only as "Ex-Slave with Long Memory, Alabama" (1937), her right hand clutching a walking stick. A portrait of a young Black girl alone on a ramshackle porch walled off by ivy ("Tennessee," June 1938) echoes that of a young white girl clutching a barbwire fence ("Child and Her Mother, Wapato Yakima Valley," August 1939). These are portraits of girlhood forestalled or abandoned.

By contrast, a section devoted to women's rights and racism (primarily anti-Japanese sentiment and segregation) feels a bit sparse, suggesting that perhaps Lange received fewer commissions in those areas, although there's at least one striking portrait elsewhere in the show - "Plantation Overseer and His Field Hands" (June 1936). For the most part, however, the exhibition flows well. Audio notes fill in the broader context around the photographs: for example, artist Wendy Red Star, who grew up on a Crow reservation, comments on "Tractored Out, Childress County, Texas" (1938) by drawing a parallel between the Indigenous people pushed out from fertile prairies by white farmers and the same farmers being pushed out by dust bowls. Such contextualization, from multiple perspectives, broadens the social resonance of Lange's work. It also helps balance the other moments in the show, where the lack of narrative makes it feel like the marginalized groups are being relegated to summary roles or ethnic types (as in "Ex-Slave" or "Filipinos Cutting Lettuce, Salinas Valley, California," June 1935).

Lange could be ferocious. In her late series, dedicated to the injustices of the legal system, every image is a cry of protest. In "The Defendant, Alameda County Courthouse, California" (1957), a young man sits alone in the courthouse, his broad shoulders slumped, his head in his hand, the latter slightly blurred, spectral, and so massive it shields his face. The immensity of the man's grief is palpable. In "The Witness" (1955-57), a Black man holds up his right hand in a courtroom; the apathetic faces of white jury members behind him speak powerfully to racism in America.

In Regarding the Pain of Others (2003), Susan Sontag argued that no photograph could tell one story clearly. Lange seems beyond such worry in this exhibition. She had stories she wanted urgently to tell, and moral clarity about her reasons to tell them.

Dorothea Lange: Words & Pictures is scheduled to continue at the Museum of Modern Art (11 West 53rd Street, Manhattan) through May 9. The exhibition is organized by Sarah Meister with River Bullock, and assistance from Madeline Weisburg.
Editor's note: Please note that physical viewing hours for this exhibition have temporarily ended in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The museum has since debuted an online version of the exhibition, and curator Sarah Meister will lead a virtual Q&A with photographer Sally Mann on April 30 at 8pm EST. More details via the link above.

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In Lange's photography, human ingenuity and grace triumph over the unspeakable blows of the Great Depression and other social oppression, even when hope is in short supply. In the midst of the Great Depression, the American photographer Dorothea Lange crossed the street from her San Francisco studio to photograph unemployed men in a breadline.

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Photographer Drew Gardner has been recreating portraits of some of history's most famous figures by finding and photographing their direct descendants. One of his latest recreations features Thomas Jefferson's sixth great-grandson.

While he has been working on a personal project titledThe Descendants, Gardner was recently commissioned by Smithsonian magazine to recreate portraits of famous American historical figures.

A history buff, Gardner does in-depth research tracing direct descendants and verifying their lineage. He then carefully sets up portraits to recreate well-known paintings and photos as faithfully as possible, from period costumes to props to the backgrounds. He also does his best to match the lighting seen in the original portraits.

The six-times-great-grandson of Thomas Jefferson that Gardner photographed was Shannon LaNier, who works as a television reporter at CW39 in Houston, Texas.

The recreation was based on the famous portrait of Jefferson by American painter Rembrandt Peale, and Gardner shot his portrait using a Fujifilm GFX 50S and a Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4 lens.

LaNier, a black man who descended from Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings, tells Smithsonian that he has complex feelings about being a Jefferson descendant, and he chose to not wear a wig to more faithfully recreate his great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather's portrait.

"He was a brilliant man who preached equality, but he didn't practice it," LaNier tells the magazine. "He owned people. And now I'm here because of it [...]

"I didn't want to become Jefferson."

You can watch a 3.5-minute behind-the-scenes video showing how this portrait was shot. You can also find more of Gardner's recreations on his website.
Image credits: Photograph by Drew Gardner and used with permission

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Thomas Jefferson Portrait Recreated by His Sixth Great-Grandson

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Photographer Drew Gardner has been recreating portraits of some of history's most famous figures by finding and photographing their direct descendants. One of his latest recreations features Thomas Jefferson's sixth great-grandson. While he has been working on a personal project titledThe Descendants , Gardner was recently commissioned by Smithsonian magazine to recreate portraits of famous American historical figures.

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ArtSleuth 6: HOLBEIN - The Ambassadors (final version) - National Gallery London

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education documentary sciences économie histoire art savoirs musée patrimoine peinture sculpture

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Special thanks to Sarah Rosenthal for lending her expertise to this script. You can see Sarah's TED-Ed lesson on abstract expressionism here.

Though Vermeer has become a popular painter today, he was relatively unknown in his lifetime. Recently, however, there has been plenty of strong research and interesting documentaries including Tim's Vermeer to expand our knowledge of Vermeer's techniques. The Mauritshuis Museum also has plenty of resources to help your research as well.

Interested in the way an artist's composition impacts the painting's meaning? TED Ed has an awesome lesson that will help! Watch this TED-Ed Lesson by James Earle and Christina Bozsik based on Las Meninas, or "The Maids of Honor."

Want to learn more on how shifts in culture can provide meaning for a work of art? Take a look at this TED-Ed Lesson by James Earle.

If you seek the answer to this video's opening question on whether or not the girl with the pearl earring is turning toward or away from the view, you can watch this Amor Sciendi video that tackles this question.

Photograph of the Mauritshuis exterior was taken by Ronald Tilleman. It is part of the Mauritshuis collection, The Hague.

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Why is Vermeer's "Girl with the Pearl Earring" considered a masterpiece? - James Earle

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Is she turning towards you or away from you? No one can agree. She's the subject of Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer's "Girl with the Pearl Earring," a painting often referred to as the 'Mona Lisa of the North.' But what makes this painting so captivating?

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Banksy

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Given the interwebs always seems to be aflutter with news about Banksy, we thought we'd show you the most comprehensive collection of his street art in one spot.

Banksy developed an entire art subculture devoted to his works. Banksy's art can impact any location at any given moment. His identity remains unknown, even after over 20 years of being involved with the graffiti and street art scene. His work not only includes many powerful, often controversial images, but they may also be found throughout the Internet as viral images.

Banksy began his graffiti art lifestyle by admiring the works of Blek Le Rat and often recycling his old ideas. He has been very active in the graffiti scene since the early 1990s. Initially, he hung around a graffiti crew in Bristol by the name of DryBreadZ crew or DBZ. Soon after, he began to partner with Inkie, another notable graffiti street artist.

By the age of 18, Banksy began to develop stencils after nearly being caught vandalizing public spaces by police. As his crew fled from the scene, Banksy was stuck hiding beneath a garbage truck. It was at this time that Banksy saw stencil letters on the truck. Looking for a faster way to paint, Banksy decided stenciling would be his new graffiti type.

The most common form of street art Banksy uses are stencils. These are often in the form of multi-layered stencils and/or combined with other media sources, such as spray-paint. He also includes anything found in the streets like street signs and other objects to convey his message by crafting beautiful street art installations. His artwork is often satirical and combines dark humor with graffiti and also spread messages across art, philosophy, and politics.

By the early 2000s, Banksy relocated to London, where he began to gain notoriety and even worked on a series of international exhibits. Eventually, he decided to travel to Palestine and the West Bank, where he stenciled nine images on the Bethlehem Wall. These images were an instant hit and virally exploded in the Internet.

At this time, Banksy's silkscreen prints and stencil paintings were racking up record-breaking sales in storied art auctions such as Sotheby's and Bonham's of London. These successful sales officially broke him into the commercial business. In 2010 Banksy became a successful author and filmmaker for the film "Exit Through the Gift Shop."

Very little is known about Banksy himself, as he refuses to be interviewed (except for this interview here), and keeps his identity carefully maintained. A world-renowned mystery man, Banksy has risen through the ranks to become one of the world's greatest street artists partly by creating an urgency to understand hischaracter. Street art fanatics are consistently satisfied with every piece of art he delivers, though he often leaves them wanting more. This tactic carries one's curiosity to explore a completely new perspective or idea, leaving his artistic creations to inspire beginning and advanced artists. This inspiration is also known as the " Banksy Effect."

The media and his supporters have always questioned Banksy's identity due to a variety of identity claims. Most recently, many popular theories, including an entire newspaper publication, pointed his identity at being a Bristol native by the name of Robin Gunninham. This was later proven to be a hoax. It has also been claimed that Banksy is in fact Mr Brainwash or Robert Del Naja from band Massive Attack (see here). What is even more interesting is that he has managed to completely conceal his identity from his family. To this date, no Banksy identity claim has ever been definitive, although several unsubstantiated sightings have occurred (see here).

Banksy's art has been seen across the world. His travels have included Australia, England, the United States, Israel, Jamaica, and even Canada.

So who is Banksy? He/she/they is a mystery to all and we'd like to keep it that way :)

Here are artFido's top 114 works by Banksy. Vote on your favorite!

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Who is Banksy? The Most Comprehensive Study of His Life and Street Art - artFido's Blog

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Given the interwebs always seems to be aflutter with news about Banksy, we thought we'd show you the most comprehensive collection of his street art in one spot. Banksy developed an entire art subculture devoted to his works. Banksy's art can impact any location at any given moment.

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Hopper's Nighthawks: Look Through The Window

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The Death of Socrates: How To Read A Painting

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With the proliferation of social media and smart phones, it's hard to imagine a time before photography. Today, we can snap, send, and share photos in an instant, but people living just 150 years ago had to come up with creative ways to chronicle the world. One popular method of documentation was watercolor painting, a practice explored in Watercolour World 's new digitized archive.

With over 80,000 historic paintings digitized to date, Watercolour World offers a comprehensive look at the age-old craft. Though based in the United Kingdom, Watercolour World collects vintage watercolors from private and open source collections from all over the world. This inclusive approach culminates in an encyclopedic collection of works featuring flora and fauna, architecture, landscapes and seascapes, travel and transport, and people.

Though eclectic in subject matter, these watercolor paintings have one thing in common: they were created as a means of documentation. "Before the invention of the camera," Watercolour World explains, "people used watercolors to document the world. Over the centuries, painters-both professional and amateur-created hundreds of thousands of images recording life as they witnessed it. Every one of these paintings has a story to tell."

As we move into the future, access to these visual stories will become increasingly important. To scientists, it will help paint a picture of how the natural world has changed. To historians, it will open the door to lost places, people, and ideas. "And to all of us," Fred Hohler, the founder of Watercolour World, explains, "it will offer an extraordinary journey into lands around us in earlier times, and an encounter with our predecessors to observe how they lived, loved and played."

You can wander through Watercolour World by visiting the online archive.

Here's a glimpse of the vintage watercolors you'll find in this new digital archive.

h/t: [ Open Culture]

All images via Watercolour World.

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80,000 Historic Paintings Chronicling the World Before Photography Now Available Online

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With the proliferation of social media and smart phones, it's hard to imagine a time before photography. Today, we can snap, send, and share photos in an instant, but people living just 150 years ago had to come up with creative ways to chronicle the world.

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L'ART BRITANNIQUE DANS LES COLLECTIONS FRANCAISES

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L'ART BRITANNIQUE DANS LES COLLECTIONS FRANCAISES

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D'Outre-Manche : Catalogue en ligne - L'art britannique dans les collections publiques françaises (1100-1940)

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Le mot de Pandemonium a été crée par Milton (1608-1674) dans son livre Le Paradis Perdu (1ère édition en 1667). Il dénomme ainsi la capitale de l'enfer crée par Satan (littéralement en Grec, pandémonium signifie "de tous les démons") Satan se tient ici dans la chambre du conseil et préside l'assemblée des démons: il s'agit de la représentation des versets 710 à 719 du livre 1.

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L'Art en Question 1 - VAN GOGH : La Nuit étoilée (version finale)

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L'Art en Question 10 : Bruegel - Les Moissonneurs (New York)

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L'Art en Question 5 : Rembrandt - Le Retour du Fils prodigue (St-Pétersbourg) - version finale

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L'Art en Question 3 : BOTTICELLI - La Naissance de Vénus (version finale)

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L'Art en Question 6 : HOLBEIN - Les Ambassadeurs (version courte)

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William Hogarth, Marriage A-la-Mode (including Tête à Tête)

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With its imaginative imagery, experimental artistic approach, and subconscious-inspired subject matter, Surrealism may seem like a difficult genre to grasp. After all, even the movement's pioneer, André Breton, referred to the genre as an "invisible ray," while iconic Surrealist Salvador Dalí noted that "people love mystery, and that is why they love my paintings."

However, once one learns about its fascinating roots, key artists, and well-known works, it is clear that the mysterious movement is actually an accessible and approachable form of art-and one that continues to charm audiences and even artists today.

The History of Surrealism

The Surrealist art movement began in the 1920s, when visual artists like Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, Man Ray, Joan Miró, and Yves Tanguy adopted automatism, a literary technique that relied entirely on the subconscious for creativity. This tool had been recently pioneered and popularized by André Breton and other Surrealist writers in Paris, who paved the way for the art form with their dream-like texts and Dada-inspired interest in experimentation.

The idea of automatism appealed to the group of artists, who, in their work, sought liberation from rationalism and complete creative freedom. Thus, it is not surprising that many of the artists had often looked to similarly-minded movements like Cubism, Expressionism, and Post-Impressionism. Combining elements of each, they settled on a visual approach lacking, according to André Breton in Manifestoes of Surrealism, "any control exercised by reason, exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern." They then formally founded the Surrealist art movement.

In addition to experimenting with automatism and exploring the self-conscious, Surrealist artists aimed to challenge perceptions and question reality through their work. This fascination is the focus of The Treachery of Images, a painting by René Magritte that features only a pipe and the text: ceci n'est pas une pipe ("this is not a pipe"). By pointing out that his depiction is not actually a pipe but merely a painting of one, he plays with interpretation and draws attention to the inherent deception of art.

Aesthetic Approaches

Most Surrealist artists expressed themselves through painting and produced works that exhibit their interest in combining a realistic style with unrealistic subject matter. This paradoxical approach is particularly evident in The Persistence of Memory, one of Salvador Dalí's most well-known "hand-painted dream photographs." This piece pairs a lifelike landscape and painting style with bizarre iconography, including an organic, anthropomorphic figure, a barren tree, and the now-iconic melting clocks.
This push-and-pull between reality and fantasy is also evident in the oeuvres of René Magritte and Ives Tanguy. The Son of Man, a later painting by Magritte, and Indefinite Divisibility, a piece by Yves Tanguy, illustrate this sentiment and showcase the artists' ability to simultaneously employ a realist style and a surreal approach to subject matter.

Still, some Surrealists did not work in this photograph-like style, as apparent in The Elephant Celebes by Max Ernst and The Harlequin's Carnival by Joan Miró. Though, aesthetically, these pieces bear little in common, both perfectly capture the artists' painterly, almost naive approach to typically Surrealist subject matter.

Experimental Media

The Surrealist movement was a time for experimentation. In addition to painting, many artists began to explore different avenues of art, including sculpture, photography, and film. Among the more prominent figures who dabbled in Surrealist cinema are Marcel Duchamp, Fernand Leger, Luis Buñuel, and Salvador Dalí. While their approaches to filmmaking varied, each one expressed an interest in bringing their dream-inspired imagery, absurd concepts, and modernist mindsets to the silver screen.

The Avant-Garde Art Movement Today

Today, Surrealism is seen as one of the 20th century's most influential movements. In addition to introducing the public to the unconventional side of art, Surrealist pioneers proved that the ability to be an artist transcended traditional fine art forms. "Attractive to writers, artists, photographers and filmmakers from around the world who shared this aggressive rejection of conventional artistic and moral values, surrealism quickly became an international movement," the Tate explains. "It exerted enormous impact on the cultural life of many countries in the interwar years and later."

This influence is evident in contemporary art. Today, many creatives continue to keep the Surrealist tradition alive through their dreamy depictions. Like the artists that inspire them, many of them produce works of art rooted in the subconscious, ensuring that the Surrealist legacy lives on no matter the medium.

This article has been edited and updated.

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Exploring the Experimental and Avant-Garde Art of Surrealism

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With its imaginative imagery, experimental artistic approach, and subconscious-inspired subject matter, Surrealism may seem like a difficult genre to grasp. After all, even the movement's pioneer, André Breton, referred to the genre as an "invisible ray," while iconic Surrealist Salvador Dalí noted that "people love mystery, and that is why they love my paintings."

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During the 19th century, a group of American painters dedicated themselves to cultivating a style that would have its roots in the New World, rather than looking back to Europe. Inspired by the untamed landscape of their surroundings and filled with ideas of exploration, these landscape painters helped create what is now known as the Hudson River School.

In these landscapes, the environment is filled with drama and emotion. The wide, expansive spaces are dappled with warm color, as depictions of man are eschewed in favor of the terrain. From 1825 until its popularity began to decline around 1870, the group of artists associated with these heroic landscapes helped shape the way we view early America.

From the early work of British-born émigré Thomas Cole to the oil paintings of Albert Bierstadt and Frederic Edwin Church, these landscape paintings were often the first depictions of parts unknown. Whether they are views of Yosemite Valley and the American West to glimpses of South America, these paintings are the testimony of a critical time in American history and the development of native art culture.

Origins of the Hudson River School

The foundations of the Hudson River School can be found in the Romanticist painting that took hold in Europe at the end of the 18th century. The way that Romantic painters-particularly in England and Germany-embraced landscape painting on a grand scale was highly influential.

However, while some influence is based in Europe, the Hudson River School is a decidedly national style, coming at a time when American painters were looking to define art in their own country. For generations, artists had made a return to the Old World in order to study the Great Masters. But, increasingly, these artists wanted to cultivate a style that was uniquely American. This desire, coupled with this particular moment in history, made for the development of the Hudson River School.

In the mid-19th century, when the style really came into its own, America was coming out of the Civil War. Manifest Destiny, a popular philosophy that Americans were destined to expand west across North America, had taken hold. At the same time, industrialization was under way and rapidly transforming the country.

Not only were artists more adventurous in leaving New York to explore parts unknown, but the resulting wild landscapes became a symbol for the unconquered continent. The love for untamed nature was something not typically seen in European landscapes, making the work decidedly American.

At the same time, these depictions of wide-open spaces, ready to be settled, gave hope to a population coming out of the war. Fresh and unspoiled, this new terrain was free from the scars of battle. As a whole, these paintings point to the spirit of adventure, freedom, and discovery that exemplified the nation during this critical time in history.

Who named the Hudson River School?

The movement was given its name retrospectively, though there's a debate on whether it was art critic Clarence Cook or artist Homer Dodge Martin who first used the term. Initially, it was a disparaging name, meant to trivialize the work of these artists who had fallen out of fashion in favor of the French Barbizon School.

While the name Hudson River School comes from the fact that early paintings depicted the Hudson River Valley and its surroundings, later work includes locations in the American West, New England, and even South America.

Thomas Cole, who is generally known as the father of the movement, spent a significant amount of time in the area after taking a steamboat up the Hudson in 1825. From there, he hiked the Catskills and the resulting paintings are the first landscapes of the area. Once Cole died in 1848, the mantel was taken up by a second generation of painters who expanded the locations of the landscapes.

Frederic Edwin Church and the Second Generation

Moving into the second half of the 19th century, painters like Albert Bierstadt and Frederic Edwin Church were particularly sought after for their monumental landscapes. Both built on Cole's principals-Church was his pupil-and depicted heroic landscapes that played on emotion and patriotism.

Church's ten-foot-wide Heart of the Andes was a sensation from the moment it was painted in 1859. Based on the artist's trip to Ecuador two years earlier, an estimated 12,000 to 13,000 people paid 25 cents apiece for the chance to admire it when it went on display in New York shortly after completion. Church played up the sense of drama by exhibiting the painting in a dark room with a single spotlight on the work. It later went on tour to eight American cities and London, where large crowds were drawn into the magnificent landscape. When it eventually sold for $10,000, it was the highest price ever paid for an artwork by a living American artist at the time.

Bierstadt, who was of German origin, is particularly known for his monumental paintings of the American West. Only Church rivaled him in fame and it's thanks to Bierstadt that we have early paintings of Yosemite. His presence was often requested by early explorers of the American West, who admired his technical prowess coupled with his subject matter. His series of paintings showing the Rocky Mountains were highly successful, as they allowed people who had not viewed these new areas of the United States to see more of their own country.

Legacy of the Hudson River School

By the time the Centennial was celebrated in 1876, the Hudson River School's popularity was declining. Popular taste was turning toward France, where intimate landscapes were taking hold. Gone were the days where the monumental, larger-than-life paintings of Church and Bierstadt garnered crowds.

After World War I, the style saw a slight revival when the country was undergoing a period of extreme national pride. Today, the Hudson River School is recognized for its importance in developing a native art culture in America. The Hudson River Valley prides itself on being the home of this movement, and it's possible to visit Thomas Cole's home and hike the areas that inspired his evocative landscapes.

We also have several members of the school to thank for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Church, along with John Frederick Kensett and Sanford Robinson Gifford was among the founders of the museum. In fact, today there are a number of important works by these artists in the collection. Another important collection of paintings by Cole and Church can be found at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut. As the painters were close friends with the museum's founder, nearly 25 of their paintings reside in the collection.

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How the Hudson River School Became America's First Art Movement

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During the 19th century, a group of American painters dedicated themselves to cultivating a style that would have its roots in the New World, rather than looking back to Europe. Inspired by the untamed landscape of their surroundings and filled with ideas of exploration, these landscape painters helped create what is now known as the Hudson River School.

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It's no secret that artists often look to other creative figures, styles, and movements for inspiration. In addition to fine art influences, however, many of art history's most prominent players also employed more personal muses. Much like Frida Kahlo's interest in her Mexican heritage and Salvador Dalí's dive into his subconscious, painter Paul Klee, for example, was influenced by his own musical background.

When paired with more art-geared influences, Klee's knowledge of music allowed him to develop a distinctive style unlike any other. Here, we explore the artist's life and one-of-a-kind work in order to illustrate his undeniable impact on modern art.

Who is Paul Klee?

Paul Klee (1879-1940) was a Swiss-born artist. Involved with and influenced by several different movements-including Expressionism, Cubism, and Surrealism -Klee excelled in a range of genres, including drawing, printmaking, and, most famously, painting. Similarly, he inventively employed unexpected materials to produce mixed-media works, from canvas and cardboard to foil and fabric.

His avant-garde approach to art landed him a teaching job at the famous Bauhaus School. As he led bookbinding, stained glass, and mural painting workshops, it is during this 10-year teaching stint that he developed a signature painting technique. "He started every picture with an abstract mark-a square, a triangle, a circle, a line or a dot-and then allowed that motif to evolve or grow, almost like a living organism," explains art historian Richard Dorment.

Dorment is not the only one who viewed Klee's paintings as sentient beings. In fact, Klee himself made the comparison. "Pictures have their skeleton, muscles, and skin like human beings," he explained in 1908. "One may speak of the specific anatomy of the picture. A picture representing 'a naked person' must not be created by the laws of human anatomy, but only by those of compositional anatomy."

While Klee had an anatomical approach to composition, the content of his works was inspired by an entirely different discipline: music.

Musical Background

Like many famous fine artists, Klee was born into a creative family. Unlike most of his peers, however, Klee's parents were not experts in painting, drawing, or sculpting; instead, they were musically-inclined. Specifically, his father was a music teacher, while his mother was a singer.

Klee, at first, followed in his parents' footsteps. As a young child, he developed a taste for classical music, with works by composers like Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart among his favorite pieces. At the age of 7, he began playing the violin, culminating in a stint as a violinist for the Bern Symphony Orchestra while he was in his 20s.

Though on a promising path, Klee decided to forego a musical career and instead pursue art by the turn of the century-though music would remain an important muse for much of his career. In 1905, nearly a decade after changing career paths, he revealed: "More and more parallels between music and graphic art force themselves upon my consciousness."

This enduring connection to his earliest craft manifests as paintings that directly reference music. In In the Style of Bach (1919), for example, Klee reimagines a musical score as an arrangement of graphic symbols like foliage, a crescent moon, and stars. In addition to deciphering the structural similarities between music and art, however, Klee discovered a more profound connection between the disciplines when he began to explore color theory.

Color Theory

In 1914, Klee traveled to Tunisia. Inspired by the vibrancy of the sights that surrounded him, it is here that he made his biggest artistic breakthrough: an appreciation for color. "Color has taken possession of me; no longer do I have to chase after it, I know that it has hold of me forever," he said. "Color and I are one. I am a painter."

Inspired by this revelation, he obsessively studied and tinkered with color for several years. While employed by the Bauhaus, he "developed his own color theory based on a six-part rainbow shaped into a color wheel," Bauhaus100 explains. "He placed the complementary colors in relation to movements that interact with one another, which shows this theory is based on dynamic transitions."

It is when Klee mixed his unique approach to color with his musical background that he was able to establish a style that was entirely his own. Some of his works-like Polyphony (1932), a painting that explores musical texture through tonal blocks, and Harmony in Blue-Orange (1923), a piece that pairs complimentary colors as if they were music notes-directly allude to both elements. However, many of his most famous pieces-including Fish Magic (1925) and To the Parnassus (1932)-demonstrate his harmonious approach to color theory without specific references, proving his ability to "improvise freely on the keyboard of colors."

Klee Today

Today, Klee is known as a master of both modernist color and form. In recent years, his exceptional oeuvre has been the subject of much study, culminating in highly-anticipated exhibitions around the world. Notable retrospectives include Paul Klee. Irony at Work at Paris' Pompidou Center and Paul Klee - Making Visible at the Tate Modern in London.

In addition to museums, Klee's legacy can be found in the classroom. In the middle of the 20th century, his Bauhaus lectures were compiled into a two-volume tome and published as Writings on Form and Design Theory and, later, as The Paul Klee Notebooks. Likened to Leonardo's A Treatise on Painting and described by famed art historian Herbert Read as "the most complete presentation of the principles of design ever made by a modern artist," The Paul Klee Notebooks remain a crucial resource for contemporary creatives-in the fine arts and beyond.

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How Music Played a Pivotal Role in the Colorful Avant-Garde Direction of Modern Art

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It's no secret that artists often look to other creative figures, styles, and movements for inspiration. In addition to fine art influences, however, many of art history's most prominent players also employed more personal muses. Much like Frida Kahlo's interest in her Mexican heritage and Salvador Dalí's dive into his subconscious, painter Paul Klee, for example, was influenced by his own musical background.

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The story of Michelangelo Merisi-better known as Caravaggio-is one of talent and turbulence. The masterful Italian Baroque painter pushed boundaries, both in his artistic and personal life. As a man with a complicated personality, his work fell out of favor after his death in 1610 and only began to be appreciated by the public once again in the mid-20th century.

Born in Milan, Caravaggio made his way to Rome in his early 20s and became part of a circle of wealthy art patrons who would propel his career forward. In a time when figures in paintings were idealized, Caravaggio's use of live models and his focus on realism was forward-thinking. His paintings relied on a high level of realism and masterful use of chiaroscuro to create unparalleled psychological drama. Unafraid to take risks, anyone involved in Caravaggio's life could be transformed into an artwork. This included his student-and lover-Mario Minniti, who features in several paintings, including Bacchus, which is now on view at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. In this piece, Minniti is dressed as the god of wine, embodying youth as he invites viewers into the party.

While pushing the boundaries might have scared others, Caravaggio was unwavering in his art. In fact, many of his paintings that were commissioned for Catholic churches were rejected by officials, as they did not conform to the aesthetic standard of the time. Luckily for him, Caravaggio always had a ready stable of collectors itching to scoop up any painting that he had to offer.

Biographers tend to focus heavily on Caravaggio's temperamental behavior, which caused numerous fights and an eventual murder that saw him banished from Rome. But, artistically, Caravaggio is perhaps best known for his use of light and shadow. The high contrast of light and dark found in his paintings would influence later artists like Rembrandt and Peter Paul Rubens. An entire generation of painters (particularly in northern Europe) known as Caravaggisti was heavily inspired by his use of shadow. Let's take a look at what makes Caravaggio and his art so groundbreaking by looking at some of his most thrilling paintings.

Learn more about Caravaggio and how his paintings, though controversial, broke new ground.

Sick Bacchus (c. 1593)

Bacchus, the mythological god of wine, was a common subject for painters, but no one had ever done it quite like Caravaggio. Painted when he'd first arrived in Rome, it's actually a self-portrait. Known as the Sick Bacchus, Caravaggio does himself no favors in this rendering of himself. Already he's demonstrating his quest for realism, even when the results can be unpleasant.

With sallow skin, Caravaggio's Bacchus isn't pretty. But, as is typical with the Baroque painter, Caravaggio wasn't interested in the ideal. The oil painting, done for an early patron of his work, was a sort of visual business card that showed off his ability to create still life, as well as classical subjects in complex poses.

Location: Borghese Gallery, Rome, Italy (Buy tickets)

Basket of Fruit (c. 1599)

What's so revolutionary about a basket of fruit? In the case of Caravaggio's Basket of Fruit, the painting is groundbreaking. While still life painting had gained momentum in northern Europe, things were a bit different in Italy. Baskets of fruit or flowers were incorporated into larger scenes, but never the main subject of an artwork. That is, until Caravaggio.

Basket of Fruit was a gift from Caravaggio's early patron Cardinal Francesco Del Monte to Cardinal Federico Borromeo, who was a fan of Flemish painters. After having seen Caravaggio's talent for still life painting as components of other works like his Bacchus paintings, it would have been natural to ask for a piece where the accessory became the main character. Now found in Milan, today the painting is considered the first Italian still life.

Location: Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan, Italy (Buy tickets)

The Calling of St. Matthew (1599-1600)

After a few years in Rome mingling in the proper circles, Caravaggio began to get important commissions in churches around the city. Never one to let institutional expectations or traditional iconography pressure him, the rebellious artist used these projects as places to experiment and show his unique point of view. The Calling of St. Matthew, which can still be found in its original location, remains one of Caravaggio's most famous paintings. The informal, natural gathering of figures was a huge shift against the idealism of Mannerism. Dressed in contemporary clothing, the characters appear lifted from a genre scene rather than a traditional religious painting.

But the real genius of the painting comes from Caravaggio's use of light and shadow-the trademark of his style. Following the actual architecture of the chapel and its windows, sunlight streams in and follows the hand of Christ, who points toward Matthew. The light not only creates heightened drama but acts as a metaphor for the hand of God, asking Matthew to join him.

Location: Contarelli Chapel in San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome, Italy

Caravaggio's next big commission called for him to create two paintings for the same chapel. While both are still in place in the church of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome, neither painting currently on view was the first version he painted. In fact, both paintings were first rejected by the patron, forcing Caravaggio to do them again.

Though the exact reason his Crucifixion of St. Peter was rejected is unknown, his second version is still full of bold choices. Caravaggio was known for using regular people as models, something unheard of at the time, and it was scandalous to see figures in a religious scene with such realism. Here Peter looks like an ordinary man, not a glorified saint, and one of his executioners even has dirty feet. Caravaggio put these Biblical characters on the same level as ordinary citizens, instead of elevating them on a pedestal-a bold move for the time.

Location: Cerasi Chapel of Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome, Italy

Conversion on the Way to Damascus (1601)

Directly across the chapel from the Crucifixion of St. Peter is another powerful Caravaggio painting, Conversion on the Way to Damascus. Similarly, the first version of this painting was rejected-though both were purchased by avid Caravaggio collectors. The oil painting on display today shows Caravaggio's masterful use of light, with a warm glow washing over Paul as he falls from his horse and emerges from the darkness.

The depiction once again breaks with tradition. While Renaissance and Baroque paintings of the scene typically show a horse, here Caravaggio has made the animal-and its backside-the dominant feature of the composition. It was a controversial choice that is said to have prompted this exchange between the artist and a church official: "Why have you put a horse in the middle, and Saint Paul on the ground?" "Because!" "Is the horse God?" "No, but he stands in God's light!".

Location: Cerasi Chapel of Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome, Italy

Death of the Virgin (1604-1606)

Caravaggio's place in the Louvre was ensured by yet another rejected artwork. This time, the rebellious artist was commissioned by a papal lawyer to paint a scene showing the death of the Virgin Mary. It was to sit in his chapel in a church in Rome but was deemed inappropriate once completed. And this time we know the cause.

The painter's use of regular people as models was well-known, but when people believed that he used a prostitute-who was possibly his mistress-as a model for the Virgin Mary, it caused a stir. Beyond that, Caravaggio's need for uncompromising realism caused him to show the deceased as bloated and swollen. This unbecoming depiction of Christ's mother went too far for church officials and another painter ended up making a work for the chapel. Luckily, thanks to a recommendation by fellow Baroque master Peter Paul Reubens, the Duke of Mantua purchased the painting. Following several owners, including England's King Charles I, the Death of the Virgin entered the Louvre's collection after the French Revolution.

Location: Louvre, Paris, France (Buy tickets)

David with the Head of Goliath (1610)

David with the Head of Goliath is a psychological masterpiece painted during a period when Caravaggio was exiled from Rome after murdering a man during a tennis match. Caravaggio using his characteristic tenebrism to craft an oil painting showing a young David looking pensively at the severed head of Goliath.

Here, Caravaggio uses his own features for Goliath, making it yet another morbid self-portrait. After the murder, Caravaggio was banished from Rome from 1606, spending time in Naples, Sicily, and Malta. Some believe that the painting was a gift to Cardinal Scipione Borghese, an avid art collector and a man with the power to pardon Caravaggio. Others believe that it's simply a plea for mercy, with David's sad gaze mirroring the pity that Caravaggio wished to receive. Whatever the case, Caravaggio was pardoned, but he was never able to return to Rome. During the trip back to his beloved home, he fell ill and died before ever setting foot back in the city.

Location: Borghese Gallery, Rome, Italy (Buy tickets)

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8 Caravaggio Paintings That Broke All the Rules (and Where to See Them)

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A look at 8 famous Caravaggio paintings that were groundbreaking and where to visit them currently. We look at the Baroque painters controversial art.

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In the 1950s, Pop Art made its debut in Post-War Britain and America. While several different artists are responsible for the movement's success, no figure played a bigger role in Pop Art's popularity than Andy Warhol.

While Warhol worked in a myriad of mediums, he is most famous for his polychromatic silk screen prints and paintings. In the 1960s, he began creating pieces that would eventually define many of the movement's most distinctive characteristics: bold, contemporary imagery; a bright color palette; and a repetitive aesthetic inspired by mass production.

Though his work often speaks for itself, it is worth learning more about the figure behind the art. In addition to giving us a glimpse into the mind of the eccentric artist, it can help us understand the significance of his impact-both on Pop Art and art history as a whole.

Learn all about Pop Art's most famous figure with these six Andy Warhol facts.

Childhood illness allowed him to hone his craft at a young age.

Andy Warhol was born on August 6, 1928, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When he was a young child, he developed Sydenham's chorea, a disorder that resulted in neurological symptoms and blotchy skin. When dealing with the worst of this condition, he would be bed-bound, giving him ample time to draw. These stints, however, were not just crucial to the development of his artistic skills; they also fueled his future interest in popular culture, as it was during his time confined to bed that he began listening to the radio in earnest and filling his walls with magazine clippings and photographs of celebrities.

He started out as a successful shoe illustrator.

As Warhol got older, the drawing style that he had cultivated as a child translated well as commercial illustration. After obtaining a degree in pictorial design from the Carnegie Institute of Technology and moving to New York City in 1949, he was commissioned by Glamour Magazine to illustrate shoes for advertisements. By the early 50s, his fanciful footwear illustrations caught the eye of Israel Miller, a Manhattan-based shoemaker, who asked Warhol to work for him as a shoe designer.

Much more than a means of income, Warhol's work with shoes shaped his personal projects and, subsequently, his success. "Shoes played a prominent role in Warhol's early career as a commercial artist," the Tate explains. "His 1950s adverts for women's footwear were well recognized and his fetish for shoes and feet continued throughout his life."

Many of his most famous pieces made their debut at his first New York solo show.

Warhol's shoe drawings weren't just popular with designers; they also impressed members of New York City's contemporary art scene, culminating in some of the artist's earliest gallery shows. While shoe illustrations made up the bulk of his exhibited work in the 1950s, his first solo show in 1962 revealed a much larger oeuvre.

Set in Stable Gallery and taking place from November 6 through 24, this show featured some of Warhol's most iconic pieces, like Marilyn Diptych, 100 Soup Cans, and Green Coca Cola Bottles. Aside from 100 Soup Cans, which was painted and stamped by hand, these pieces were crafted using a mix of applied acrylic paint and the silkscreen method. Pioneered by Warhol, this mechanical process allowed the artist to translate photographs-namely, of popular celebrities and everyday objects-as multiple paintings and, in turn, create his own brand of "mass produced" art.

"The reason I'm painting this way is that I want to be a machine," Warhol said in 1963, "and I feel that whatever I do and do machine-like is what I want to do."

His New York studio was known as "The Factory."

Warhol's fascination with consumer culture was evident in his entire artistic process-even his studio. Though his workspace changed locations several times between 1962 and 1984, each one was known affectionately as The Factory. Here, Warhol worked with an assembly line-like team of assistants-an approach he developed in the late 1950s.

The Guggenheim explains: "During these early years, Warhol laid the foundation for his practice of delegating stages of artistic production to assistants, and frequently threw ' coloring parties,' gatherings during which friends and associates assisted in hand-coloring his numerous works." At The Factory, he continued this method of production. In addition to artists, however, his collaborators included New York City socialites, Hollywood celebrities, and other famous figures.

A radical feminist writer shot and seriously injured him in 1968.

While most people who visited The Factory were friends of Warhol's, one infamously turned out to be an enemy. Valerie Solanas, a radical feminist author with schizophrenia, met Warhol in the 1960s. After featuring in one of his experimental underground films, she accused the artist of stealing her manuscript for SCUM Manifesto, a self-published book she had written that called for the extinction of men.

On June 3, 1968, she showed up at The Factory, where she shot Warhol and Mario Amaya, a curator and critic. While Amaya's injuries were minor, Warhol's were nearly fatal; two bullets pierced his stomach, liver, spleen, esophagus, and lungs. His injuries called for him to wear a surgical corset for the remainder of his life, and resulted in a phobia of hospitals. Because of his fears, he avoided medical establishments at all costs-even when, in the 1980s, he needed gallbladder surgery. After procrastinating for several years, he finally had the operation in 1987, but, unfortunately, by this point it was too late. He died of cardiac arrest shortly after the procedure.

He managed a band, established a magazine, and co-founded a university-all while making art.

While Warhol is mostly known for his silkscreen paintings, his legacy embodies much more than these experimental pieces. In fact, in addition to creating fine artworks like drawings, prints, and sculptures, including his famous Box, he also adopted a range of other creative projects. In the 1960s, he managed and produced the rock band The Velvet Underground, culminating in one of his most iconic motifs: a banana for their first album The Velvet Underground & Nico. In 1969, he and Gerard Malang, a prominent art world figure, founded Interview magazine, which remains in circulation today. And, in 1979, he co-founded the New York Academy of Art with other "artists, scholars and patrons of the arts."

Together with his artistic creations, these contributions have shaped a legacy that has made Warhol one of the 20th century's most important artists-and an inevitable inspiration for artists to come.

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6 Eye-Opening Facts About Andy Warhol to Help You Better Understand the Pop Art Pioneer

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In the 1950s, Pop Art made its debut in Post-War Britain and America. While several different artists are responsible for the movement's success, no figure played a bigger role in Pop Art's popularity than Andy Warhol. While Warhol worked in a myriad of mediums, he is most famous for his polychromatic silk screen prints and paintings.

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SOVIET MODERNIST ARCHITECTURE IN ARMENIA

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SOVIET MODERNIST ARCHITECTURE IN ARMENIA

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Italy-based, Armenian graphic designer and illustrator Nvard Yerkanian pays homage to her home country with an ongoing series of minimalist illustrations inspired by Soviet Modernist architecture. "It is an ode to the architectural heritage that is either lost or unfairly undervalued," she explains. "The main aim of the project is to reveal the beauty and value of soviet-modernism to the indifferent public through the magic of colors that accentuate the simple yet fantastic forms of these monuments."

Yerkanian's Soviet Modernist subjects include the Sevan Writers' Resort in eastern Armenia, designed by Gevorg Kochar and Mikael Mazmanyan in 1965. The architectural complex juts out above the Sevan lake and was built to provide relaxation and inspiration to authors. Yerkanian's illustrated rendition highlights its curved windows and balcony with minimalist shapes filled with colorful gradients.

Yerkanian has also captured the charm of other epic structures such as the now abandoned Echmiadzin diving tower designed by Felix Hakobyan during the '60s, and the star-shaped Central Bus Station in Hrazdan built by Henrik Arakelyan in 1976-78. Each illustration pays homage to this distinct era of design by celebrating the buildings' bold forms with graphic shapes and vibrant color.

Scroll down to see Yerkanian's fantastic architecture-inspired illustrations and follow her on Instagram to keep up to date with the ongoing series. If you like this artist's work, you can purchase her illustrations as prints and more on Society6.

Illustrator Nvard Yerkanian's ongoing series of minimalist illustrations celebrates Soviet Modernist architecture in Armenia.

Each illustration pays homage to this distinct era of design by celebrating the buildings' bold forms with graphic shapes and vibrant color.

My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Nvard Yerkanian.

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Vibrant illustrations Pay Homage to Armenia's Soviet Modernist Architecture

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Italy-based, Armenian graphic designer and illustrator Nvard Yerkanian pays homage to her home country with an ongoing series of minimalist illustrations inspired by Soviet Modernist architecture. "It is an ode to the architectural heritage that is either lost or unfairly undervalued," she explains.

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While the term photography was coined in the early 19th-century, Greek mathematicians had been making pinhole cameras since the 4th century BCE. The history of photography has always been filled with innovation, as imagery has continued to develop along with the technology photographers have on hand. With such a long history, it's no surprise that photography is full of important firsts, from the world's oldest photograph to the first photo uploaded to Instagram.

Most early photos used the daguerreotype process invented by Louis Daguerre, but technical inventions have created endless possibilities for photographers. Let's take a stroll down memory lane to learn about some of the famous first photographs that have changed how we view the world.

First Photograph Ever

The world's first photograph-or at least the oldest surviving photo-was taken by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in 1826 or 1827. Captured using a technique known as heliography, the shot was taken from an upstairs window at Niépce's estate in Burgundy. As heliography produces one-of-a-kind images, there are no duplicates of the piece, which is now part of the permanent collection at the University of Texas-Austin.

World's First Self-Portrait

We may be used to selfies now, but it's Robert Cornelius's 1839 image that lays claim to the first self-portrait. Taken in Philadelphia, Cornelius sat for a little over one minute before covering the lens.

Oldest Photo of New York

This 1848 daguerreotype of Manhattan's Upper West side is the oldest surviving photo of New York. In 2009, it was sold at Sotheby's for $62,500. Unfortunately, the first photo of New York, which shows the Unitarian Church, is now lost.

First Photograph of the Moon

This daguerreotype by John W. Draper from 1840 is the first photo of the moon. Taken from his rooftop observatory at New York University, the image has since sustained extensive damage.

First Photo with People

Louis Daguerre-the inventor of daguerreotype-shot what is not only the world's oldest photograph of Paris, but also the first photo with humans. The 10-minute long exposure was taken in 1839 in Place de la République and it's just possible to make out two blurry figures in the left-hand corner.

First Photo of War

Carol Popp de Szathmari is the first known war photographer, capturing hundreds of images of the Crimean War. But it's this image from 1870 that is thought to be the first photograph of an actual battle. Showing a line of Prussian troops as they advance, the photographer shot the image as he stood with French defenders.

First Photo of a President

John Quincy Adams holds the distinction of being the first U.S. president photographed, though he wasn't in office at the time. Captured at his home in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1843, fourteen years after he left office, the daguerreotype was shot by Philip Haas. The first photograph of a sitting president was taken in 1841, but has now been lost. It depicted short-lived president William Henry Harrison before he passed away from pneumonia just 31 days after taking office.

Oldest Photograph of the Sun

Just five years after the first photo of the moon, in 1845, French physicists Louis Fizeau and Leon Foucault took the first photograph of the sun. Even with just a 1/60th exposure, it's possible to see sunspots.

First Photo of a Tornado

It only seems fitting that the first known photograph of a tornado was taken in Kansas. On April 26, 1884, a tornado moved slowly across Anderson county, which allowed amateur photographer A.A. Adams to set up his box camera. A pioneering image in meteorology, Adams' image is a pre-cursor to the storm chasers we still see today.

Oldest Aerial Photo

In the age of drones, aerial photography is often taken for granted, but this 1860 image actually pioneered the technique. Showing Boston from over 2,000 feet in the air, this aerial photograph was taken by James Wallace Black and Samuel Archer King. Unfortunately, the first aerial image, which was taken by French photographer and balloonist Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, has been lost.

First Photograph of Earth from the Moon

On August 23, 1966, a lunar orbiter snapped this image of Earth from the Moon. The incredible image was captured during the orbiter's 16th lap around the Moon.

Oldest Color Photograph

Physicist James Clerk Maxwell is responsible for taking the world's first color photograph. In 1855, Maxwell developed a three-color method, with the actual shutter being pressed by Thomas Sutton in 1861. The subject of the image? A colored ribbon, also known as a tartan ribbon.

First Color Underwater Photo

In 1926 National Geographic photographer Charles Martin and botanist William Longley took the first underwater photograph in color. Taken off the Florida Keys, it shows a hogfish. The duo took this pioneering shot by encasing cameras in waterproof housing and using a magnesium-powered flash.

First Digital Photo

The first digital photo was taken earlier than you may have thought. Almost 20 years before the original Kodak digital camera, in 1957, this square image of Russell Kirsch's son was taken. The photo is a digital scan of a film image, resulting in a square photograph that makes it Instagram ready.

First Digital Photo of a President

It was only in 2009 that a digital camera was used to photograph POTUS. Official photographer Pete Souza holds the honor with his portrait of Barack Obama. Taken with a Canon 5D Mark II and no flash, the image shows the shifting gears of technology that have reached the White House.

First Photo on Instagram

On July 16, 2010, Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom uploaded the first post on Instagram. Actually, it was uploaded using an app called Codename, which three months later became the app we all know and love. It's only fitting-given how many pets have become famous from the app-that the first photo on Instagram shows Systrom's cute pup sitting at a taco stand in Mexico.

First Photo Inside the Sun's Corona

On November 8, 2018, NASA's Parker Solar Probe took a groundbreaking photograph at 16.9 million miles from the Sun. That's incredibly close when one considers that Earth is located 91 million miles from the Sun. This first-ever photo from inside the Sun's corona is a breakthrough in the field of heliophysics and researchers are hopeful it will help us learn more about this giant star.

First Photo of a Black Hole

In April 2019, NASA released the first known image of a black hole. This mysterious entity sits in the center of the Messier 87 galaxy-55 million light years from Earth-and was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope. The luminous disk we see is actually the black hole's accretion disk, where hot gases swirl around the vacuous space.

All images via Wikipedia except where noted.

This article has been edited and updated.

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18 Famous First Photographs in History: From the Oldest Photo Ever to the World's First Instagram

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While the term photography was coined in the early 19th-century, Greek mathematicians had been making pinhole cameras since the 4th century BCE. The history of photography has always been filled with innovation, as imagery has continued to develop along with the technology photographers have on hand.

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11 Great Hispanic Artists Who Shaped Western Culture

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From Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí to Frida Kahlo and Fernando Botero, hispanic artists have contributed a great deal to the art world.

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Throughout history, countless creatives have found inspiration in Venus, the Roman goddess of love. Derived from Aphrodite, a prominent deity in ancient Greek mythology, Venus was central to Roman worship-and, in turn, to art of the time. While the 2nd-century-BCE Venus de Milo is perhaps the most well-known sculpture of the goddess, it is not the oldest; in fact, that honor goes to the Venus of Willendorf, a piece that predates the myth itself by over 20,000 years.

Discovered in the early 20th century, this small statuette was retroactively given this title based on the belief that it was intended as a fertility sculpture. While this hypothesis has held water for years, historians, archaeologists, and other experts in the field today still aren't certain about its portrayal, purpose, or even origins, making this sculpture one of the most mysterious in the world.

The Venus of Willendorf

The Venus of Willendorf is a 4.4-inch tall carving discovered in Willendorf, Austria. It is believed to have been crafted between 30,000 and 25,000 BCE, making it one of the world's oldest known works of art.

Carved from limestone decoratively tinged with red ochre, the statuette depicts a female nude. Though without a face, the crown of the figure's head is decorated with a repeating motif resembling either a braided hairstyle or a patterned headdress. Even more fascinating than the sculptor's decision to leave the figure faceless, however, is the way that he or she opted to depict her body-i.e. by exaggerating proportions and emphasizing features associated with sexual reproduction and fertility.

Because of the figure's prominent breasts, rounded abdomen, and shapely hips, many researchers over time have concluded that the carving was intended to be a fertility statue, or "Venus figurine."

What are Venus Figurines?

A Venus figurine is a small statuette of a female figure crafted during the Upper Paleolithic era. While the details surrounding the figures' origins are murky, most historians believe that they served a ritual purpose and likely celebrated ideas linked to fertility, including femininity, goddesses, and eroticism.

Today, 144 fertility figurines have been found in Europe and Asia. While not all of these statuettes share the Venus of Willendorf's voluptuous features, most do. This is because, during the Stone Age, such an appearance was inherently linked to a woman's ability to conceive, making a full-figured woman an ideal subject for a sculptor interested in fertility.

"The people who made this statue lived in a harsh ice-age environment where features of fatness and fertility would have been highly desirable," PBS explains. "So in Paleolithic people terms, the parts that mattered most had to do with successful reproduction - the breasts and pelvic girdle. Therefore, these parts were isolated and amplified by the artist's brain."

Because of the sexually-charged nature of these statuettes, Paul Hurault-an amateur archaeologist who first discovered such a figurine in 1864-opted to name them after Venus, the goddess of love, beauty, desire, and sex.

Though intended to be tongue-in-cheek (Hurault deemed his ivory discovery the Venus Impudique, or "immodest Venus," as a play on the term Venus pudica, a pose found in Classical art.), the name stuck, and the Venus of Willendorf received a similar title when it was unearthed nearly 50 years later.

The Venus of Willendorf's Discovery and Legacy

On August 7, 1908, Johann Veran uncovered the tiny statue while participating in excavations at a paleolithic site near Willendorf, an Austrian village. Initially, archaeologists dated the sculpture to around 10,000 BCE. However, further study has led to an increasingly earlier origin.

In the 1970s, researchers concluded it was around 20,000 years old. Following a 1990 analysis of the rock layers in which the piece was found, however, the date was revised to 25,000 to 30,000 BCE-a hypothesis that remains the most prevalent today.

In addition to its staggering age, the Venus of Willendorf is paradoxically celebrated for the mystery that surrounds it. Though little is known about its origins, it has come to be not only a highlight of the Naturhistorisches Museum (Vienna's Natural History Museum), but of art history as a whole.

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Venus of Willendorf: How This 30,000-Year-Old Figurine Continues to Captivate Today

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Throughout history, countless creatives have found inspiration in Venus, the Roman goddess of love. Derived from Aphrodite, a prominent deity in ancient Greek mythology, Venus was central to Roman worship-and, in turn, to art of the time.

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In the 17th century, artists in Italy began embracing an increasingly elaborate style. Known as the Baroque movement, this shift toward an ornate, over-the-top aesthetic is evident in both the art and architecture of the time, with master of materials Gian Lorenzo Bernini at the forefront. In addition to designing St. Peter's Basilica (one of Italy's most important monuments), Bernini was a celebrated sculptor, with The Rape of Proserpina among his most treasured creations.

Crafted in the early 17th century, this marble sculpture illustrates several of Bernini's strong suits, including his mastery of anatomy and ability to evoke both dynamism and drama. While these achievements continue to garner praise for the sculptor today, its unsavory subject matter has cast a controversial shadow over the work-though it remains a quintessential highlight of both the Baroque era and of marble sculpture as a whole.

Bernini's The Rape of Proserpina

Bernini completed The Rape of Prosperina between 1621 and 1622. Though the Naples-born artist was just 23 years old at the time, he was already seeing success as a budding artist. While he wouldn't complete his architectural masterpiece, St. Peter's Basilica, for over 40 years, he had already carved out a name for himself in the early 1620s as a celebrated sculptor with four masterpieces: David; Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius; Apollo and Daphne; and, of course, The Rape of Proserpina.

Measuring nearly 7.5 feet tall, the piece is carved from Carrara marble, a material derived from Tuscany and historically used by ancient Roman builders and, more recently, by Mannerist and Renaissance artists. The softness of this high-quality marble lended itself to Bernini's craft, as he " prided himself on being able to give marble the appearance of flesh."

This interest in transforming stone into skin is particularly evident in The Rape of Proserpina, a piece intended to portray a dramatic abduction (in the case of its title, the term "rape" refers to the act of kidnapping). " Pushed to the point of grazing the physical limits of marble," Bernini's attention to detail and interest in realism is evident in the work's anatomical details. As the hand of Pluto (the sculpture's male subject) grabs the thigh of Proserpina (the female figure), his grasping fingers appear to sink into her seemingly soft skin. Similarly, straining to overpower her, the muscles in his bent legs and tense arms protrude, while her flowing hair and twisting drapery suggest movement.

Like many of Bernini's earlier works, The Rape of Proserpina was commissioned by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, an avid art collector and devoted patron of both Bernini and fellow Baroque artist Caravaggio. On the heels of the High Renaissance, people remained interested in reviving a Classical approach to art-including subjects inspired by Ancient Greek and Roman mythology.

The Myth of Pluto and Proserpina

This piece portrays a moment from the myth of Pluto and Proserpina (also known as Proserpine), a tale present in both Metamorphoses by Ovid, a Roman poet from the 1st century CE, and De raptu Proserpinae, a piece written 400 years later by the Latin writer Claudian.

This story revolves around the abduction of Proserpina, the daughter of Jupiter (Zeus in Greek mythology) and Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture. While picking flowers, Proserpina was attacked by an enamored Pluto, the god of the dead, who burst from the earth in a chariot pulled by four black horses. While Ceres heard her daughter scream while being dragged into the underworld, she was unfortunately too late.

However, "once she realized that Pluto had abducted Proserpine," the Getty explains, "she became angry and caused the earth to dry up, and the harvests to fail. Jupiter saw from the heavens that the earth was barren and dead. He decided to intervene, and eventually a deal was made: Proserpine would spend half of the year with her mother and half of the year in the underworld with Pluto."

Contemporary Interpretations and Legacy

Given the grim nature of this story, it comes as no surprise that Bernini's sculpture has caused a stir over the last few centuries. Shortly after its completion, Bernini's depiction of such an unsavory scene was mostly met with praise (the artist's son and biographer called it "an amazing contrast of tenderness and cruelty"), but celebrating a scene depicting a violent abduction can be troublesome in today's context.

Recently, for example, Thomas Campbell, the director the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, praised the "compelling, hypnotizing, even inspiring" elements of the piece. "And yet . . . " he added, "I am now struggling to recalibrate my thoughts on this work because a subject that I used to regard almost as an academic premise for virtuoso sculpture-abduction scenes are, after all, common in renaissance and baroque art-seems much less academic two years after the start of the 'Me Too' movement."

Today, discussions about potentially problematic works of art-and even artists-are taking center stage. In the case of The Rape of Proserpina, however, contextualizing the subject matter through both a classical and contemporary lens allows us to appreciate the artistry while remaining critical of what is depicted.

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In the 17th century, artists in Italy began embracing an increasingly elaborate style. Known as the Baroque movement, this shift toward an ornate, over-the-top aesthetic is evident in both the art and architecture of the time, with master of materials Gian Lorenzo Bernini at the forefront. In addition to designing St.

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For the sake of convenience, art history's major movements are often associated with single, pioneering figures. The success of Impressionism, for example, is often credited to Claude Monet, while Salvador Dalí is frequently seen as the sole architect of Surrealism. In addition to overly simplifying the complexity of these genres, however, this system of attribution is flawed, as female artists are rarely included in the running.

A prime example of an overshadowed female painter is Artemisia Gentileschi. Though born into an artistically accomplished family and even accepted into a prestigious art school, she has historically been overlooked in favor of Caravaggio, a contemporary painter attributed with spearheading the Baroque movement.

Fortunately, today, more and more museums, art history books, and other communicators of culture are beginning to shine a light on this overshadowed figure-and the powerful stories behind her most celebrated paintings.

Here are five of Artemisia Gentileschi's most important masterpieces.

Susanna and the Elders (1610)

In 1593, Artemisia Gentileschi was born in Rome. With famed Tuscan painter Orazio Gentileschi as her father, Gentileschi was exposed to art at a young age. As a teenager, she worked alongside her father in his studio, where she learned the fundamentals of painting and completed Susanna and the Elders, her earliest known work of art.

Completed when Gentileschi was just seventeen years old, this large-scale painting depicts a biblical scene. It shows Susanna, a married Hebrew woman, being harassed and attacked by two men while bathing. After refusing to have sexual relations with the assailants, Susanna is blackmailed and falsely put on trial for adultery. However, her husband, Daniel, points out the unfair nature of the accusation, and, in turn, the accusers are cross-examined. After failing to come up with matching stories, the men are put to death.

Gentileschi rendered this scene in what would become her signature style: a realistic approach to female anatomy, a deep color palette, and skilled use of light and shadow. Most prominently, however, it laid the groundwork for Gentileschi's eventual preferred subject matter: suffering yet strong female figures from mythology, the bible, and allegorical tales.

Judith Slaying Holofernes (1614-1620)

Gentileschi's longterm focus on female subjects was further shaped by an event that occurred the same year she completed Susanna and the Elders. In 1610, her father was collaborating with Agostino Tassi, a fellow Italian artist, on a project in Rome. During this time, Tassi raped the 17-year-old, prompting her father to press charges. While Tassi was exiled for his behavior-which also included separate charges like theft and intent to murder-his sentencing was never carried out.

Gentileschi, however, sought her own form of revenge. In 1610, she painted Judith Slaying Holofernes, a piece portraying an Old Testament story in which a widow and her maid overpower-and eventually behead-a lustful, threatening man. Given the timing of the painting's completion, many believe that Gentileschi channeled her own sexual assault (and consequent feelings toward Tassi, represented by a bleeding Holofernes) when crafting the composition.

In 1614, Gentileschi returned to this theme, producing a second copy of Judith Slaying Holofernes. With a more vivid color palette and increased contrasts between light and dark, this later work would eventually typify her entire oeuvre.

Judith and Her Maidservant (1625)

Between 1623 and 1625, Gentileschi again revisited the story of Judith. In Judith and Her Maidservant, she captures the moment after the murder, when the heroine and her maid place the decapitated head of Holofernes in a bag.

While Judith Slaying Holofernes is predominantly celebrated for Gentileschi's radical approach to the subject matter, Judith and Her Maidservant is mainly praised for her treatment of light and shadow. On top of accentuating the rich tones found in Judith's golden dress and the red velvet curtains, this use of light heightens the drama of the scene and, ultimately, showcases Gentileschi's mastery of a quintessentially Baroque skill.

Lucretia (1625)

Gentileschi's depictions of Judithwould not be the last example of the artist exploring the effects of sexual harassment and rape in her work. In 1623, she painted Lucretia, a work that features a female figure on the brink of suicide. Specifically, it depicts Lucretia, a real-life Roman noblewoman, who opted to take her own life after being raped by Sextus Tarquinius, the son of an Etruscan king.

While plenty of painters have found a muse in Lucretia, Gentileschi's rendition (completed in 1625) is described by famed art historian Mary Garrard as "the most unusual and the most radical variation of the subject in early modern painting." This assessment is primarily due to Gentileschi's strategy of depicting the moment just before Lucretia resolves to kill herself-not, as in the case of many other paintings, the suicide itself.

Though unprecedented, this decision falls in line with Gentileschi's approach to such subject matter, as Lucretia, secure in her convictions, is depicted as a "femme forte, a strong heroine."

Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting (1638-1639)

Gentileschi's penchant for painting women was not limited to age-old bible stories and ancient tales. In fact, she sometimes found inspiration in a contemporary figure: herself.

In 1639, Gentileschi completed her most celebrated self-portrayal, Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting. In this unique painting, the artist imagines herself as an allegory-a creative approach that subtly incorporates her long-held feminist views. "She holds a brush in one hand and a palette in the other," the Royal Collection Trust explains, "cleverly identifying herself as the female personification of painting-something her male contemporaries could never do."

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5 Powerful Paintings by the Under-Appreciated Female Artist Artemisia Gentileschi

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For the sake of convenience, art history's major movements are often associated with single, pioneering figures. The success of Impressionism, for example, is often credited to Claude Monet, while Salvador Dalí is frequently seen as the sole architect of Surrealism.

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At the end of the 19th century, a movement of "new art" swept through Europe. Characterized by an interest in stylistically reinterpreting the beauty of nature, artists from across the continent adopted and adapted this avant-garde style. As a result, it materialized in sub-movements like the Vienna Secession in Austria, Modernisme in Spain, and, most prominently, Art Nouveau in France.

The French Art Nouveau style was embraced by artists working in a range of mediums. In addition to the fine arts, like painting and sculpture, it featured heavily in architecture and decorative arts of the period. However, perhaps its most enduring legacy can be found in the poster-a commercial craft that Czech artist Alphonse Mucha helped elevate as a modern art form.

Alphonse Mucha's Early Life

In 1860, Alfons Maria Mucha (known internationally as Alphonse Mucha) was born in Ivančice, a small town now part of the Czech Republic. His childhood was shaped by a unique trio of influences: his Catholic upbringing, an interest in music, and his natural artistic talents. "For me," he wrote, "the notions of painting, going to church, and music are so closely knit that often I cannot decide whether I like church for its music, or music for its place in the mystery which it accompanies."

Though Mucha viewed these elements as interconnected, each one had a discrete and discernible influence on his artistic career and eventual success. His role in the Catholic Church, for example, helped him secure his first big commission, a Portrait of Saints Cyril and Methodius, while his fascination with music morphed into an interest in the theatre and, consequently, work as a stage designer.

It was not his religious paintings and theatrical decoration, however, that made Mucha a household name. It was, rather, the commercial illustrations he began churning out in Paris.

Artistic Success in La Belle Époque Paris

In 1888, Mucha moved to the French capital. Here, he found a support system in both the local Slavic community and in Charlotte Caron, a patron of the avant-garde arts and owner of the artist-filled Crémerie boarding house. While living in this creative hub, Mucha shifted his focus from painting and theatre to magazine illustration, a field in which he quickly found success.

The visuals he provided for contemporary publications like La Vie popular and Le Petit Français Illustré resulted in a suitable income for the 30-year-old. Soon, he was able to afford supplies and space to help him hone his craft, including a camera so he could work from photographs and a shared studio with fellow artist Paul Gauguin.

In the early 1890s, two big breaks changed the course of Mucha's career once again. First, he began working for the Central Library of Fine Arts, an art book company that would eventually popularize the Art Nouveau style with its magazine, Art et Decoration. Secondly, and most importantly, he was commissioned to create posters publicizing the work of popular Parisian stage actress Sarah Bernhardt.

Together, these roles prompted Mucha to pursue what would become his most well-known practice: poster design.

Theatrical Posters

In December 1894, Bernhardt was looking for an artist to create a fresh poster for the play Gismonda. The spectacle, which starred Bernhardt, had recently been renewed for an extended run in Paris. Unfortunately, due to the fact that her request was made during the busy holiday season, her go-to team of artists from Lemercier, a popular publishing company, was not available to complete it.

On short notice, Maurice de Brunhoff, the manager of the firm, asked theatre-loving Mucha to step in and design the advertisement, which the artist realized as a larger than life-sized poster featuring exotic motifs, swirling silhouettes, and mosaic-inspired patterns. Posted all over Paris, this piece made Mucha a well-known artist-and secured him a contract with Bernhardt.

For six years, Mucha designed the flyers and bills for Bernardt's productions, including La Tosca and Hamlet. This role, however, was only the beginning of Mucha's liaison with lithography, which culminated in several commercial commissions.

Commercial Prints

Nestlé, Moët-Chandon champagne, and the Beers of the Meuse are just some of the many companies that hired Mucha to design their advertisements in fin de siècle Paris. Though intended to sell an eclectic range of products, these designs are all rendered in the style that Mucha had developed while creating posters for Bernardt-and one that helped popularize the Art Nouveau style.

Many of them feature conventionally beautiful, contemporary women as their subjects, whose soft, traditionally feminine features-including flowing hair, gracefully moving bodies, and fashionable, ornamental clothing-reflect the sinuous curves and nature-inspired motifs that characterized the "new art" movement.

In addition to pioneering the "Mucha style" of Art Nouveau, these works immensely improved printmaking's artistic reputation. Prior to Mucha, printmaking mostly existed in the realms of woodcuts, engravings, and etchings. However, in the 1890s, Jules Chéret, a French artist celebrated as the "father of the modern poster," introduced the color lithograph. Using new techniques and technologies, artists like Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Georges de Feure, and, of course, Alphonse Mucha, excelled in the medium, which doubled as an effective advertising tool and an alluring art form.

As a result, the distinction between mass production and fine art became fuzzy, and the Art Nouveau aesthetic quickly became an embedded and accessible aspect of everyday life.

Later Work and Legacy

Following the fruitful nature of his commercial career, Mucha was able to again alter his focus and work on projects that pleased him on a personal level. Specifically, he turned his attention toward history paintings, which-along with his popular, crowd-pleasing Art Nouveau creations-he exhibited during Paris' World's Fair in 1900.

Later in life, he moved from Paris to Prague, where he spent 18 years crafting his most ambitious project yet: the Slav Epic. Inspired by the artist's intention to "do something really good, not just for the art critic but for our Slav souls," this series of 20 large-scale paintings shines a spotlight on the achievements of Slavic cultures, which he studied through years of extensive travel, research, and observation.

A far cry from the bright and bold aesthetic of his prints and posters, Mucha considered this cycle of tempera paintings his most important life's work. In fact, though his commercial pieces are considered triumphs of Art Nouveau, he rejected the movement."What is it, Art Nouveau?" he asked. "Art can never be new."

Therefore, to understand Mucha's practice, it is vital to not only study his popular prints and posters, but to consider his passion projects as well. After all, it was Mucha himself who, after years of familiarizing himself with the ins-and-outs of commercial art, famously stated that "art exists only to communicate a spiritual message."

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How One Artist's Art Nouveau Posters Elevated Printmaking as an Art Form

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At the end of the 19th century, a movement of "new art" swept through Europe. Characterized by an interest in stylistically reinterpreting the beauty of nature, artists from across the continent adopted and adapted this avant-garde style. As a result, it materialized in sub-movements like the Vienna Secession in Austria, Modernisme in Spain, and, most prominently, Art Nouveau in France.

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For centuries, the world has been captivated by the groundbreaking art of Michelangelo. Working in multiple mediums, the Italian artist was a true Renaissance man, culminating in an impressive collection of world-famous works that includes the Sistine Chapel ceiling, an iconic interpretation of , and the Pietà, a monumental marble sculpture of the Madonna cradling Christ.

Crafted in the late 15th century, the Pietà remains one of the most beloved sculptures in the world. Here, we take a look at this piece in order to understand how its iconography, history, and artistic characteristics have shaped such an important legacy.

What is a "Pietà"?

In Christian art, a is any portrayal (particularly, a sculptural depiction) of the Virgin Mary holding the body of her son, Jesus. According to the bible, Jesus was crucified for claiming to be the son of God. Though Mary embracing her dead son is not explicitly mentioned in the holy book, the scene has proven a popular subject among artists for centuries, after German sculptors introduced wooden Vesperbild (a term that translates to "image of the vespers") figurines to Northern Europe during the Middle Ages.

By 1400, the tradition had reached Italy, where Renaissance artists adapted it as marble sculpture -and Michelangelo made his mark with his unprecedented rendition.

Michelangelo's Pietà

Toward the end of the 15th century, young Florentine artist Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was already an esteemed artist. He was particularly renowned for his ability to paint and sculpt biblical figures with realistic anatomical features, culminating in commissions from Rome's religious elite.

In late 1497, Cardinal Jean de Bilhères-Lagraulas, the French ambassador to the Holy See, asked Michelangelo to preemptively craft a large-scale Pietà for his tomb. The following year, Michelangelo began working on the sculpture, which he carved from a single block of Carrara marble, a material derived from Tuscany. Historically used by ancient Roman builders, this medium was prized for its quality and popular among Renaissance artists.

When the piece was completed in 1499, it was overwhelmingly met with praise, with contemporary painter, architect, writer, historian, and Michelangelo biographer Giorgio Vasari among its most faithful fans. "It is certainly a miracle that a formless block of stone could ever have been reduced to a perfection that nature is scarcely able to create in the flesh," he chronicled in The Lives of the Artists.

In fact, the piece was so celebrated that, fearing he wouldn't be given credit, Michelangelo-who is known for never signing his work-famously inscribed it with his name. According to Vasari, the artist overheard onlookers erroneously attribute the piece to Il Gobbo, a Milanese artist. In response, Michelangelo "stood silent, but thought it something strange that his labors should be attributed to another; and one night he shut himself in there, and, having brought a little light and his chisels, carved his name upon it."

A Renaissance Masterpiece

What makes Michelangelo's Pietà so special? Like other works by the artist, the piece illustrates Renaissance ideals; in particular, it showcases an interest in naturalism.

During the High Renaissance (1490-1527), artists in Italy began to reject the unrealistic forms found in figurative Medieval art in favor of a more naturalistic approach. At the forefront of this trend, Michelangelo crafted sculptures that focused on balance, detail, and a lifelike yet idealized approach to the human form.

The Pietà perfectly reflects these Renaissance ideals. In order to suggest balance, he rendered the sculpture as a pyramid. Popular in Renaissance painting and sculpture alike, the use of pyramidal composition -an artistic technique of placing a scene or subject within an imaginary triangle-aids the viewer as they observe a work of art by leading their eye around the composition. Such a silhouette also suggests stability, which Michelangelo further implied through the use of heavy drapery covering Mary's monumental form.

While, in this sense, the Virgin's large size lends itself to the sculpture's naturalism, it paradoxically also appears unrealistic, as she appears much larger than her adult son. Why did Michelangelo opt for these proportions? While most art historians believe it was a matter of perspective (a massive figure sprawled across a smaller figure's lap would look unbalanced), there exists another, more poignant theory that can be traced back to the Vesperbild tradition.

While discussing a late 14th-century figurine, the Metropolitan Museum of Art explains that Jesus' "small scale may reflect the writings of German mystics, who believed that the Virgin, in the agony of her grief, imagined she was holding Christ as a baby once again in her arms."

Legacy

Since its 15th-century unveiling, the Pietà has had an eventful life. While, for centuries, it was housed in the cardinal's Vatican City-based funerary chapel, it eventually found a permanent and prominent place in St. Peter's Basilica, where it remains today.

Though the piece boasts a 520-year history, many highlights of its legacy have emerged only recently. In the middle of the 20th century, for example, it saw much fanfare when it was displayed at the 1964 New York World's Fair. Less than a decade later, it attracted attention when a man brandishing a hammer vandalized it. And, as recently as early 2019, the piece yet again made headlines when historians concluded that a small terra cotta statue discovered in Paris likely served as its study.

Even without these recent developments, however, the Pietà has undoubtedly solidified its role as one of the world's most significant sculptures.

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Exploring Michelangelo's 'Pietà,' a Masterpiece of Renaissance Sculpture

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For centuries, the world has been captivated by the groundbreaking art of Michelangelo. Working in multiple mediums, the Italian artist was a true Renaissance man, culminating in an impressive collection of world-famous works that includes the Sistine Chapel ceiling, an iconic interpretation of , and the Pietà , a monumental marble sculpture of the Madonna cradling Christ.

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When you're unfamiliar with drawing, sketching a simple doodle can seem impossible. But with the helpful tutorials of Doodle Me This, you'll be putting pen to paper in no time. Created by a woman named Jenny, her charming drawings feature an array of subjects that are simplified into three or four easy-to-follow steps. By the end of her doodle tutorials, you'll understand how to sketch cartoonish versions of guitars, foxes, rocketships, cacti, and much more.

Although it might seem like a straightforward task to convert a subject into just a few lines and colors, doing so is harder than you think. Jenny must determine the most important details of the object or animal she's going to draw. They have to reflect the essence of her subject so that when you glance at it for a second, you'll immediately understand what you're looking at. In making these decisions, her resulting drawing steps appear effortlessly crafted and accessible for even the most casual artist. It's no wonder that so many people flock to her Doodle Me This Instagram account.

Scroll down for a selection of doodle tutorials that will get you drawing. (They would be great in a bullet journal!)

Need help with your drawing skills? Doodle Me This creates easy-to-sketch doodle tutorials featuring an array of subjects.

Jenny has a newly established YouTube channel for Doodle Me This where you can watch her draw.
Doodle Me This: Instagram | YouTube
My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Doodle Me This.

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Step-by-Step Doodle Tutorials Make Complex Subjects Easy to Draw

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When you're unfamiliar with drawing, sketching a simple doodle can seem impossible. But with the helpful tutorials of Doodle Me This, you'll be putting pen to paper in no time. Created by a woman named Jenny, her charming drawings feature an array of subjects that are simplified into three or four easy-to-follow steps.

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With the artistic identity of Mr. Doodle, you'd imagine that Sam Cox is prolific with a pen. But the man with the moniker is beyond prolific. He's a drawing machine who creates awe-inspiring artworks-and even entire worlds-with his series of clustered characters and shape-driven mark-making. The artworks are busy and mesmerizing, packed with symbols that you're likely to get lost in as you marvel at their intricacies.

Cox has been scribbling since childhood. Now in his early twenties, he describes his long-held practice as "OCD," aka "obsessive-compulsive drawing." White space-whether it's on a page or in a gallery-lends itself to infinite possibilities for his artwork. This belief has led him to create DoodleLand, a place in which his work invades almost every surface that it comes into contact with. The black and white line drawings move from the walls and onto the likes of furniture, the floor, and clothing. When he's done, it's hard to distinguish between different surfaces; the doodles cloak everything in 2D drawings and flatten three-dimensional spaces.

We spoke with Cox about his doodling past, as well as where his drawings are taking him next. Scroll down to read My Modern Met's exclusive interview and watch him in action.
You've been doodling since you were a kid. What were your early drawings like? How are they similar or different from your work today?
When I was a kid I was very inspired by video games and cartoons. I used to design characters who I wanted to appear within my own ideas for similar video games and cartoons, so I created drawings of the same character over and over, practicing their eyeballs, facial expressions etc. So most of my work was full of the same character repeated but drawn in slightly different variations. I also drew big maps and things for planning out my video game levels. I loved creating imaginary worlds where all my characters would roam around and do fun things in. My drawings were all created in pencil when I was between the ages of 0-13, and many of the pieces were huge comics about fictional adventures I'd have with my friends where we would fight aliens.
Your work is full of symbols upon symbols. Can you walk us through some of your favorite characters or motifs that appear in your drawings? With your larger murals, do you go in with a plan of what you'll draw, or is it more spontaneous than that? You're incredibly prolific. How do you ensure that you doodles feel exciting and fresh-both to the audience and more importantly, yourself? You've participated in many exhibitions. Can you tell us about one of your favorites and what made it so special? What are your tips for anyone that is looking to start doodling?
The work is actually still similar today in terms of aesthetics, it's very cartoony, playful, and humorous, which are aspects I always try to retain within my style.
Anything exciting on the horizon that you can tell us about?
I often draw my "Mr. Doodle" character within my pieces. He is frequently hiding within the patterns and characters, waving hello to the audience. I also love drawing the alien UFO, the robot, the chicken bird thing, and many other characters. However, I always try and vary the characters so they at least look slightly different/evolved from drawing to drawing.

I normally go in with no plan at all. Though sometimes I do have a slight theme in mind if the work is specifically for a particular client or brand who wants to communicate something. However, I never pre-plan anything because it kills the work, it always suffers because of this, so I allow the work to form naturally like a true doodle, whilst keeping part of my brain focused on some kind of narrative, but the other 80% thinking about random stuff so that my hand can relax and flow easily.

Thank you! I just love doodling, it really is my favorite thing to do. I have found that when you love something as much as this then it's just a case of spending all your time doing it and watching it grow naturally. It organically bounces off mistakes that I make in the studio or on-site on a mural and these mistakes make new styles and ideas for me to work with. There are so many ways I can reimagine my work, with tiny doodles within big doodles, to one line doodles within giant spray-painted doodles, there are endless possibilities.

My live doodle event in Mexico this year for the British Embassy was quite special. I got a really surprising response to my work, people really loved it and I had some fans come up to the car I was being driven around in, they were banging on the window asking me to doodle on their phones, it was crazy! I really loved it!

Never stop!

I have a few exciting collaborations coming out next year, so stay tuned to see some doodle clothing available! I also have a very exciting personal project coming up, where I will be doodling over one of my dream spaces! These projects will be public throughout next year and I'm really looking forward to them. I hope 2020 will be a great year for doodling!

Watch Mr. Doodle in action in the video below:

My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Mr. Doodle.

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"I just love doodling, it really is my favorite thing to do. I have found that when you love something as much as this then it's just a case of spending all your time doing it and watching it grow naturally."

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The beauty of birds is as magical as it is diverse. Wildlife artist John James Audubon, namesake of the National Audubon Society, dedicated his talents to painting and describing all of the bird species of America, eventually culminating in his seminal Birds of America: a collection of 435 life-size prints based off of his own illustrations. Painted en plein air, John Audubon's bird prints have long been coveted for their exactness as well as their outstanding beauty.

Now, the Audubon Society's newly redesigned website displays all 435 reproductions of John Audubon's work in alphabetical order with original accompanying text from the 1800s. And the best part is that you can also download all of The Birds of America plates in high resolution for free! Among the extensive library are favorites like the snowy owl, the Columbian humming bird, and the Louisiana heron, as well as bird species that are no longer found today, like the passenger pigeon.

All you need is a printer and paper to start curating your own collection of Audubon bird prints for around the home. Scroll down to see a selection of just some of our favorites.

John James Audubon painted and described all of the bird species he saw in America.

Now you can download all 435 reproductions of John Audubon's work for free via the Audubon Society's website.
Audubon: Website | Facebook | Instagram
h/t: [ Open Culture]

All images via National Audubon Society.

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You Can Now Download All 435 Bird Illustrations by the Legendary John James Audubon for Free

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The beauty of birds is as magical as it is diverse. Wildlife artist John James Audubon, namesake of the National Audubon Society, dedicated his talents to painting and describing all of the bird species of America, eventually culminating in his seminal Birds of America : a collection of 435 life-size prints based off of his own illustrations.

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A pioneer of 20th-century art, Dutch-American painter Willem de Kooning rose to prominence together with a group of post-World War II painters like Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. De Kooning's impressive artistic output is matched only by other prolific painters like Picasso-who greatly influenced his early work. Known for his role in the Abstract Expressionist movement, his style bounced from abstract to figurative throughout his life.

De Kooning was a child prodigy, leaving school at just 12 years old to begin apprenticing at a commercial art firm. By 16, he was working as an art director at a department store. This work ethic came in handy, as de Kooning worked both as a house painter and carpenter when he moved to the United States. By the late 1930s, his art garnered attention-his bold style a huge break from the American Realism that had been fashionable.

He soon became part of a large group of modernist artists active in New York, many of whom would change the face of art history. Moving from early abstract still-lifes to minimalist black and white abstract paintings to primitive figurative work, de Kooning's art was constantly evolving. He continued to paint throughout his life, only stopping in 1991 when his health declined. De Kooning eventually passed in 1997 at age 92, after a long, illustrious career filled with professional highs and personal troubles.

Today, his paintings command some of the highest prices on the art market, with his oil painting Interchange selling for $300 million in 2015. This held the record for the most expensive of all time before a work by Leonardo da Vinci surpassed the record in 2017. What is it that makes de Kooning's work so sought after? Let's learn more about the incredible life and career of Willem de Kooning, the incredible modernist master.

5 Facts About Willem de Kooning

He was an illegal immigrant.

Originally from Rotterdam, de Kooning came to the United States in 1926 when he was just in his early twenties. He stowed away on the British freighter bound for Argentina and entered into the United States illegally. Early in his career, his immigration status was somewhat of a hindrance.

Though he was part of the Artists Union and joined the WPA's Federal Art Project, he was forced to resign in 1937 when it was discovered that he was not a citizen. Luckily, he was given one of his first big breaks just a few years later when, in 1939, he painted part of a mural for the World's Fair in New York.

After nearly forty years in America, he finally became a U.S. citizen in 1962. In 1964, he was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon B. Johnson-making him one of only nine artists to be given the prestigious award.

His work was sometimes controversial.

One of de Kooning's most famous series was also his most controversial. In 1950, when de Kooning was already enjoying great success, he began painting Woman. This series, which consists of six paintings, turned the classic Western depiction of femininity on its head.

De Kooning's Woman I, now at MoMA, is shown with large sagging breasts, big eyes, and an eerie-toothy grin. This exaggerated female form was closer to the Venus of Willendorf, a pre-historic fertility idol, than what the public was accustomed to. Fans of de Kooning's abstract paintings from the 1940s were devastated by the inclusion of a recognizable figure in his work. Critics also derided what they perceived as an aggressive and violent depiction of women, saying it was degrading.

However, Woman has stood the test of time and has become emblematic of de Kooning's work and post-World War II America. In 2006, Woman III was sold to billionaire Steven A. Cohen for $137.5 million. This made it the fourth most expensive painting ever sold at the time.

He was a risk-taker.

Though he is most popularly regarded as a leader of the Abstract Expressionist group, the truth is that de Kooning's style was fluid. He dabbled with both figurative and abstract painting, taking elements of Cubism, Surrealism, and Expressionism and combining them into his own, unique style.

While he was a central figure in Abstract Expressionism, de Kooning didn't like being tied down to one movement. In fact, at a time when abstraction was all the rage, his inclusion of figures in his paintings was disparaged by some critics. To these criticisms, de Kooning replied, "Flesh is the reason that oil painting was invented."

He also wasn't afraid to edit his own work. In fact, he's famously known for reworking his canvases by scraping off the previous day's work and starting again. His wife, Elaine de Kooning, estimated that about 200 images preceded his finished Woman I painting.

He had a tumultuous marriage.

De Kooning met painter Elaine Fried-who was 14 years his junior-shortly after leaving the WPA in 1938. An admirer of his work prior to the meeting, Elaine became his student, apprentice, muse, and-eventually-his wife. She sat for one of his early paintings of a female figure in Seated Woman (1940).

In 1943 the couple married, but their relationship was an open one that would be marred by alcoholism on both parts. They eventually separated in 1957, but never divorced. Despite living apart for nearly twenty years, they later reunited in 1976 and remained together until Elaine's death in 1989.

He suffered from Alzheimer's.

Late in his 60-year career, de Kooning began showing signs of dementia and in 1987 he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. This didn't seem to slow his artistic output, though. In fact, he was more prolific than ever for several years. It seems unsurprising that the man who once said, "I don't live to paint. I paint to live," continued to produce artwork into his mid-80s.

His late style, which is characterized by bold, graphic strips of color, has been hotly debated by critics. Many, in light of his Alzheimer's diagnosis, question the validity of these paintings. Some question how much his assistants were involved in the creative process, while others note that Abstract Expressionism prizes intuitive paintings-making his mental state at the time irrelevant.

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5 Intriguing Facts About Modern Master Willem de Kooning

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A pioneer of 20th-century art, Dutch-American painter Willem de Kooning rose to prominence together with a group of post-World War II painters like Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. De Kooning's impressive artistic output is matched only by other prolific painters like Picasso-who greatly influenced his early work.

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Rarely is a painting so delicious to the eyes as the sumptuous, candy-colored world of The Swing. An icon of the Rococo art movement, this masterpiece stars a coquettish leading lady flying between two besotted gentlemen on a swing, against the backdrop of a lush, fantastical garden.

For the casual viewer, The Swing may appear to be a scene of love at first sight; but, understanding the provocative symbolism layered in the painting provides a whole new perspective on the decadent world created by painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard. The artist completed L'Escarpolette ( The Swing) in 1767 for the Baron de Saint-Julien, who wanted a flirtatious portrait of his mistress. Today, it is remembered as Fragonard's most successful and beloved work of art.

To fully appreciate this enduring masterpiece, one must look to the rise of Rococo and the traditional symbols present within the details of the painting.

Rococo Painting

Following the extravagance and power of Baroque art came the lighthearted and flirtatious Rococo movement, which blossomed in 18th-century France before spreading to other European countries. The term Rococo derives from rocaille, a method of decoration using pebbles, seashells, and cement to adorn grottoes and fountains in the Renaissance. During the 1730s, the rocaille decoration inspired scrolling curves in ornamental furniture and interior design.

In painting, this decorative style transferred to a love of whimsical narratives, pastel colors, and fluid forms. Both in aesthetics and subject matter, The Swing was clearly a work of this newer era of Rococo art.

Commissioning The Swing

Now regarded as one of the greatest painters in the Rococo movement, Jean-Honoré Fragonard's prolific career was characterized by outstanding success in genre paintings of merriment and veiled hedonism. Likewise, the story of The Swing begins with the commission request by Baron Louis-Guillaume Baillet de Saint-Julien, who wanted a portrait of his mistress. The Baron was very clear in his salacious intentions, specifically asking that in the painting his mistress was pushed on a swing by a bishop, while he (the Baron) looked up his mistress's dress.

While most painters of the time shied away from the task, Fragonard happily undertook the project. Depicting sensual, indulgent scenes was a comfortable specialty he was lauded for as an artist. In the end, however, Fragonard did make one omission from the original request, and exchanged the figure of a bishop with the more acceptable character of a cuckolded husband.

Scandalous Symbolism

Clearly Fragonard had no qualms in fulfilling the Baron's bawdy requests as one glance at The Swing shows that the painting is bursting with incomparable glee and rapture. The star, wearing a fluffy, ballet-pink dress, flies on a luscious red-cushioned swing through the outlandish foliage until she kicks her pink mule off of her foot, letting the ecstatic gentleman below see up her skirt.

At the time, the swing was considered to be a conventional symbol of infidelity-a request that perhaps titillated the Baron. And the young woman, who deliberately kicks off her mule and lets the admirer see her legs, is overtly initiating a flirtatious game between herself and the man below. She even sends her pink slipper flying in the direction of a winged marble statue that greatly resembles Cupid, the Roman god of love and desire. All of this while the infatuated lover extends a suggestive, phallic arm.

Other symbolism to look at in The Swing is the small dog in the right foreground. The dog, which is traditionally a motif of faithfulness, barks in the direction of the lady's flirtations to give warning, but the old husband doesn't hear. Additionally, the two putti statues look in the direction of Cupid, who has raised his finger to his lips to hush them while the amorous game goes on.

Legacy of The Swing

Today, The Swing hangs in the Wallace Collection amongst other acclaimed Rococo works in London, England. Due to the painting's frivolity and romantic whimsy, it remains highly celebrated and even referenced in popular culture and fashion. Most notably perhaps is by fashion designer Manolo Blahnik, who designed a Swing-inspired pair of shoes for Sofia Coppola's film Marie Antoinette.

Although not as innocent as it may seem, perhaps The Swing endures in modern times because its candy-colored mirth is simply too irresistible.

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The Scandalous Symbolism Behind Jean-Honoré Fragonard's Masterpiece "The Swing"

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Rarely is a painting so delicious to the eyes as the sumptuous, candy-colored world of The Swing. An icon of the Rococo art movement , this masterpiece stars a coquettish leading lady flying between two besotted gentlemen on a swing, against the backdrop of a lush, fantastical garden.

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Renowned Chinese artist Ai Weiwei reflects on his work over the last two decades with his new exhibition titled Bare Life. For visitors, it's an incredible opportunity to see the socially conscious and politically charged art that the artist, who is also a political prisoner and exile, has consistently created throughout his career. Within the walls of the Kemper Art Museum, many of his greatest installations are laid out thematically in a manner that causes new reflection on this work.

The exhibition layout, which was designed by the artist, breaks the work into two thematic sections. The first deals with the effects of human rights violations in relation to China and the global refugee crisis. The second tackles Ai Weiwei's complex relationship with China's more recent history. He forces viewers to examine the current state of our rights as citizens and what life is like when we are deprived of those rights.

As a centerpiece, Ai Weiwei's seminal Forever Bicycles installation stretches across one gallery in a diagonal arch. The 720 stainless steel bikes speak to human vulnerability while also touching on the idea of mobility in China, where many travel by bicycle. Several walls are also covered in artist-designed wallpaper that, in classic Ai Weiwei fashion, takes a consumerist product and transforms it into a powerful messageboard. Here, his designs speak to the hardships of a refugee's journey, from escaping conflict and war to enduring refugee camps.

With more than 35 works on display, Bare Life is essential viewing for any contemporary art lover and anyone who is inspired by Ai Weiwei's quest to spotlight these difficult issues.

"We live in tumultuous times. Not a day goes by without reports of conflict, famine, and environmental destruction driving people from their homelands, of refugees and their struggles, of borders and walls intended to keep us apart from each other, of democracies in crisis, and more. Under these conditions we ask ourselves daily what creative practices mean today," writes Carmon Colangelo, Ralph J. Nagel Dean and E. Desmond Lee Professor for Collaboration in the Arts at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. "The artist's aesthetic response to the troubles of our time is a motivation for all those working to advance the social relevance of art."

With his work, Ai Weiwei continues to push forward the discourse on important topics that affect people around the globe. For him, it's a natural choice, as he shares that "we must understand that individual efforts and activism are never just about ourselves: we are units of existence for everyone."

Ai Weiwei: Bare Life is on view at the Kemper Art Museum at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, Washington University in St. Louis until January 5, 2020.

Bare Life puts over 35 works by Ai Weiwei on display in a look at 20 years of politically charged art.

All images via Joshua White. My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Kemper Art Museum.

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20 Years of Ai Weiwei's Politically Charged Work on Display in New Exhibition

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Renowned Chinese artist Ai Weiwei reflects on his work over the last two decades with his new exhibition titled Bare Life. For visitors, it's an incredible opportunity to see the socially conscious and politically charged art that the artist, who is also a political prisoner and exile, has consistently created throughout his career.

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Though he may have some of the most famous pop art paintings of all time, how much do you really know about Roy Lichtenstein? The American pop artist (known for his brilliant comic-based artwork) was part of a revolutionary new movement that sprung from New York in the 1960s. Along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, and several others, he pushed the boundaries of the art world and forced the establishment to think about the definition of fine art.

Lichtenstein, who was a native New Yorker, is remembered for his innovative use of commercial and industrial techniques. By bringing his varied life experience to his artwork, he had no problem incorporating methods into his paintings that were normally used in advertising. In fact, it was this risky approach that helped raise his profile and bring him incredible success.

Despite his memorable successes, there's more about Lichtenstein and his artwork that's less known. While his most iconic paintings remain valued collector's items and his style can be seen on innumerable pieces of memorabilia, many people don't realize the ups and downs of his career. From his late-in-life success to the controversy his use of comic strips caused, there's quite a lot to dissect when it comes to Roy Lichtenstein's life.

Here are 6 facts about Roy Lichtenstein you may not have known.

His success wasn't immediate.

Born and raised on New York City's Upper West Side, art and design was originally just a hobby for Lichtenstein. He took courses in fine art while in college, but this was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. After spending three years in the Army, he completed his studies and worked as an art instructor-a profession he would continue off and on throughout his life.

Lichtenstein worked odd jobs while continuing to paint and it was only as he was approaching 40 years old that his career as an artist gained traction. The momentum in his career shifted when he quit his teaching job at Rutgers University in order to move back to New York City, as he could sense that the city was on the brink of an artistic explosion.

His son inspired him to change his style.

Lichtenstein's art has come to be defined by the style he used during the height of his fame in the 1960s. This includes the use of thick, black outlines and Ben-Day dots. Used in commercial printing, these stylistic hallmarks were often seen in advertising at the time and had a huge influence on Lichtenstein.

While he'd already started using imagery found in comics, it wasn't until his son issued a challenge that he painted his first large-scale painting, bringing everything together. While looking at a Mickey Mouse comic book, his son pointed to it and said, "I bet you can't paint as good as that, eh, Dad?" The result was Look Mickey, which includes many aspects of what was to come. Speech bubbles, Ben-Day dots, and the comic imagery all come together to form this early example of pop art.

He had a complicated relationship with Abstract Expressionism.

While rightly considered one of the foremost pop artists, Lichtenstein once viewed himself as an Abstract Expressionist. Though this style is more often associated with artists like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, Lichtenstein incorporated these principles into his art starting in the late 1950s.

Later, his Brushstrokes series seemed to parody the style he had once adopted. Created from 1965 to 1966, they poked fun at the gestural painting of expressionist masters. In the paintings, Lichtenstein used his characteristic thick outlines, Ben-Day dots, and bold colors to hone in on the brushstroke itself. In this way, the spontaneous gesture is transformed into an industrial painting.

Though it could be seen as a mockery, Lichtenstein didn't view it that way. "Actually I love the Abstract Expressionists, or I like the ones I like, anyway," he once said of the series. "My work is, after all, a kind of straitjacket. I did those pictures because it was my way of saying, 'You see, painting is a tree made out of brush strokes. [Abstract Expressionists] put things down on the canvas and responded to what they had done, to the color positions and sizes. My style looks completely different, but the nature of putting down lines pretty much is the same; mine just don't come out looking calligraphic, like Pollock's or Kline's."

His use of known comic-book panels caused controversy.

As Lichtenstein continued to explore the use of comic book imagery and commercial printing techniques, his career exploded. He found both national and international fame for paintings like Drowning Girl and Whaam!, but the success didn't come without controversy.

Many of these acclaimed paintings were adapted from comic panels by well-known artists. These artists were very often not credited, and certainly not compensated, in regards to Lichtenstein's work, and this has left a bad taste in the mouths of some artists and comic lovers. In fact, Russ Heath, the veteran DC comic artist whose fighter jets were adapted by Lichtenstein for Whaam! had strong feelings about it. He was well into his 80s when he created a short comic about how it felt to have lived in poverty when his imagery was a celebrated piece of art.

In a day and age when creative adaptation, reuse, and copyright infringement often have blurred lines, it's interesting to see this issue explored in pop art. For his part, Lichtenstein stated, "I am nominally copying, but I am really restating the copied thing in other terms. In doing that, the original acquires a totally different texture. It isn't thick or thin brushstrokes, it's dots and flat colors and unyielding lines."

He wasn't embraced by critics.

As often happens when artists break new ground, critics were not all keen to embrace Lichtenstein's combination of low and high art. In fact, a 1964 Life magazine about him was titled "Is He the Worst Artist in the U.S.?" By bridging the gap between comic art (which was seen as a lesser art by contemporary art critics) and high art, he was breaking boundaries and challenging the art world's perceptions.

His work was challenged for its lack of originality and emptiness, which he acknowledged was difficult to hear and put doubts into his head. However, this never stopped him from following his principals and focusing on the technical perfection of his work. Those who deny his impact on art history need to only look at his paintings now. In 1966, when England's Tate Gallery was set to purchase Whaam! it caused an uproar with several trustees who did not agree with the acquisition. Today, its one of the collection's most iconic artworks and is worth tens of millions of dollars.

His career extended well beyond his comic phase.

Lichtenstein began to move away from his comic-infused artworks around 1966. While cartoon elements continued to seep into his paintings, he enjoyed a highly successful career up until his death in 1997. Highlights include his reworking of famous masterpieces by Van Gogh, Monet, and Cézanne-all in his Ben-Day dots and bold, graphic style.

He also played with sculpture and even created a film with the help of Universal Studios for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. After retreating to Long Island in the 1970s, where he lived in relative seclusion, he continued to experiment with still-life paintings, screen printing, and colored-pencil drawings.

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6 Surprising Facts About Pop Artist Roy Lichtenstein

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Though he may have some of the most famous pop art paintings of all time, how much do you really know about Roy Lichtenstein? The American pop artist (known for his brilliant comic-based artwork) was part of a revolutionary new movement that sprung from New York in the 1960s.

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With a career that spanned more than six decades, Salvador Dalí is undoubtedly one of the most influential figures in modern art. Upon his death in 1989, he'd created an astonishing legacy that not only includes his most famous Surrealist paintings, but sculpture, film, photography, and much more.

As an eccentric figure from childhood, Dalí loved to push the boundaries-both in his personal and professional life. And he was also a hustler and master of self-promotion. Let's look at just some of the interesting facts about Dalí's life, some of which may surprise you.

Here are 15 facts about Salvador Dalí, the eccentric master of Surrealism, that you may not know.

1. He believed he was a reincarnation of his dead brother

Dalí wasn't the only Salvador in his family. Not only was his father named Salvador, but so was his older brother. Dalí's brother died just nine months before the artist was born. When Dalí was 5 years old, his parent took him to his brother's grave and told him that he was his brother's reincarnation. It was a concept that Dalí himself believed, calling his deceased sibling "a first version of myself but conceived too much in the absolute." His older brother would become prominent in Dalí's later work, like the 1963 Portrait of My Dead Brother.

2. He was expelled from art school (twice)

Proving that he was a rebel from the start, Dalí was expelled from art school-not once, but twice. Young Dalí's artistic talent was fostered from a young age, particularly by his mother, who passed away when he was just 16 years old. While studying at the Fine Arts Academy in Madrid, he was known for his eccentric behavior and dress, which was that of a 19th-century British dandy. Unfortunately, Dalí never graduated. His first expulsion came in 1923, for his role in a student protest. After returning to the school, he faced a second expulsion just before his final exams in 1926.

In his 1942 autobiography The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí, that artist wrote that he was expelled because he wouldn't sit for his oral exams. "I am infinitely more intelligent than these three professors, and I therefore refuse to be examined by them. I know this subject much too well." But the expulsion didn't slow him down, that same year he traveled to Paris for the first time and met his idol, Pablo Picasso.

3. He didn't do drugs

While Dalí's surreal artwork and eccentric behavior may have you think otherwise, the artist did not use any chemical substances to alter his state. In fact, he once famously stated, "I don't do drugs, I am drugs." To spur his creativity, in the early 1930s he developed something called the paranoiac-critical method. This allowed him to access his subconscious and was a major contribution to the Surrealist movement. One way he kept himself in a dreamlike state included staring fixedly at a particular object until it transformed into another form, sparking a sort of hallucination.

4. Surrealists weren't pleased with him

Though Dalí is considered a key figure in the Surrealist movement, the group wasn't happy to have him early in his career. Many in the group were communist and weren't pleased with Dalí's fascist sympathies. The artist had a fascination with Hitler that the Surrealists found unsettling. He once said, "I often dreamed about Hitler as other men dreamed about women" and even went as far as to include Hitler in his artwork. This includes 1958's Metamorphosis of Hitler's Face into a Moonlit Landscape with Accompaniment, where the Nazi leader's portrait is disguised in a landscape.

Over twenty years earlier, in 1934, André Breton would call a meeting to try and have Dalí expelled from the Surrealist group, writing "Dalí having been found guilty on several occasions of counterrevolutionary actions involving the glorification of Hitlerian fascism, the undersigned propose that he be excluded from surrealism as a fascist element and combated by all available means." Of course, Dalí continued with his own beliefs, even supporting Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, whom he met with several times.

5. He had an unconventional marriage

Elena Ivanovna Diakonova, known as Gala, was ten years older than Dalí and married to Surrealist poet Paul Éluard when she first met him in 1929. A love affair quickly developed, with Gala eventually divorcing Éluard-though they remained close. The couple married in a civil ceremony in 1934, despite Dalí's family's unease with him marrying an older Russian divorcee. She had a pivotal role in the artist's career, becoming his business manager and muse.

By the 1950s, Gala was publicly engaged in extramarital affairs, though it's said that Dalí encouraged this. And in 1969, when Dalí purchased her a Catalan castle in Púbol, it was specified that he could visit her there only if invited in writing. Throughout their lives, there's no doubt they shared an intense and cerebral love. He wrote, "I would polish Gala to make her shine, make her the happiest possible, caring for her more than myself, because without her, it would all end."

6. He tricked Yoko Ono

Always up for a prank, some consider Dalí a bit of a con man. Close friend and muse Amanda Lear recalls how he once duped Yoko Ono, selling her a blade of grass for $10,000. Apparently, Ono had asked Dalí to sell him a strand of hair from his infamous mustache. Not one to turn down a check, he got creative.

"Dali thought that Yoko Ono was a witch and might use it in a spell. He didn't want to send her a personal item, much less one of his hairs," Lear explained. "So he sent me to the garden to find a dry blade of grass, and sent it off in a nice presentation box. The idiot paid 10,000 dollars for it. It amused him to rip people off."

7. He designed the Chupa Chups logo

Dalí had no issue participating in commercial work. He designed ads for Gap and even appeared in a commercial for Lanvin chocolates in 1968. In fact, André Breton, the father of Surrealism, gave him the nickname "Avida Dollars" or "eager for dollars." But one of his most enduring contributions to graphic design is the Chupa Chups logo. Dalí designed the logo for the Spanish lollipop brand in 1969, and it is still used today.

Want to learn more about Salvador Dalí? Read more on the next page.

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With a career that spanned more than six decades, Salvador Dalí is undoubtedly one of the most influential figures in modern art. Upon his death in 1989, he'd created an astonishing legacy that not only includes his most famous Surrealist paintings, but sculpture, film, photography, and much more.

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Some of the most famous artists of the Post-Impressionist movement include Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Cézanne, but there is another artist who helped pioneer it- Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The French artist was a prominent painter, printmaker, draftsman, and illustrator (to name just a few of his trades). His artistic legacy, although connected to his creative peers, captured a different side of 19-century Parisian life, focusing instead on the theatrical characters which accompanied Toulouse-Lautrec's bohemian lifestyle.

Although Toulouse-Lautrec's graphic posters speak for themselves in their enduring energy and design, it is meaningful to know their heritage. Here, we present six essential facts about Toulouse-Lautrec's fascinating yet tragically short life.

Here are six facts about Post-Impressionist artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's fascinating, bohemian life.

Toulouse-Lautrec was a nobleman.

Toulouse-Lautrec is one of the few accomplished artists to come from aristocratic heritage, making him a rarity in western art history. His full name at birth was Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa, the eldest son of the Comte (or Count) de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa.

It was customary for aristocratic families to practice patronage of the arts rather than working with their hands. However, after the separation of his parents when he was eight years old, Toulouse-Lautrec stayed with his mother, who allowed him to practice drawing as he wanted.

He suffered from a life-long disability.

Alongside his graphic prints, Toulouse-Lautrec is perhaps best known for his short stature. Due to two separate accidents at the ages of 13 and 14, Toulouse-Lautrec broke both of his femurs. Unfortunately, these traumatic injuries combined with congenital health conditions he inherited from a family history of inbreeding permanently stunted Toulouse-Lautrec's growth at 4 foot 8 inches.

As a member of high society, this disability resulted in major effects on the artist's life. Since he was unable to engage in the same outdoor activities as his peers, Toulouse-Lautrec's creative interests were encouraged by his family. The combination of talent and family connections soon fast-tracked him into several studios across Paris.

Toulouse-Lautrec studied with Vincent van Gogh.

During his five-year stay at the studio of Fernand Cormon in Montmartre, Toulouse-Lautrec met other emerging Post-Impressionist artists, including Émile Bernard and Vincent van Gogh-the latter of whom he sketched in pastel. The friendships Toulouse-Lautrec made at Cormon's studio greatly influenced his art.

Toulouse-Lautrec was inspired by Parisian nightlife.

Since he felt shunned by the elite society, Toulouse-Lautrec delved instead into the theatrical underbelly of Paris. There, amongst sex workers and performers, he was less conscious of his appearance and was creatively inspired by the bohemian surroundings. Some 150 of the artist's drawings and paintings are of the women he met at brothels.

He blended fine art with commercial art.

At the time, the commission of designing posters and prints was considered beneath the skills of a fine artist, yet Toulouse-Lautrec happily accepted the requests. In 1889, he designed a series of lithograph posters to publicize the opening of the Moulin Rouge cabaret -the likes of which are still remembered today as some of his most enduring works.

In his posters, Toulouse-Lautrec employs masterful use of the line to characterize well-known performers of the time, including Yvette Guilbert, Louise Weber, and Jane Avril. His draftsmanship captured the movement of dance and the energy of Parisian nightlife during the Belle Epoque.

Toulouse-Lautrec was remarkably prolific.

A famous jack-of-all-trades, Toulouse-Lautrec produced an outstanding number of artworks throughout his career. In less than 20 years, he created 275 watercolors, 363 posters, 737 canvased paintings, and 5,084 drawings.

Today, the Musée Toulouse-Lautrec in Albi, France, houses the largest permanent collection of his work, numbering over a thousand.

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6 Fascinating Facts About Post-Impressionist Pioneer Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

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Some of the most famous artists of the Post-Impressionist movement include Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Cézanne, but there is another artist who helped pioneer it- Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The French artist was a prominent painter, printmaker, draftsman, and illustrator (to name just a few of his trades).

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Like most movements that make up modern and contemporary art, installation art exhibits an interest in innovating. Though similar to sculpture and related to a range of recent artistic genres, the immersive practice offers a unique way to experience art. In order to grasp the significance of such a movement, it is important to understand what makes it so special, from its distinctive qualities to its artistic influences.

Here, we explore the avant-garde movement, paying particular attention to the ways in which it creatively engages audiences and manufactures new experiences.

What is Installation Art?

Installation art is a modern movement characterized by immersive, larger-than-life works of art. Usually, installation artists create these pieces for specific locations, enabling them to expertly transform any space into a customized, interactive environment.

Characteristics

Immersive

A key attribute of installation art is its ability to physically interact with viewers. While all artistic mediums have the ability to engage individuals, most do not completely immerse them in interactive experiences.

In addition to facilitating dialogues between observers and works of art, this unique characteristic invites individuals to view art from new and different perspectives-literally!

Large-scale

Given their interactive nature, most works of installation art are large in scale. Their sizable statures enable viewers to become completely immersed in each larger-than-life environment. In many cases, it even allows them to sit, stand, or walk through it-a distinctive capability not commonly found in more traditional forms of art.

Site-Specific

Unlike sculptures, paintings, and similar pieces, installations are usually planned with certain sites in mind, from rooms in galleries and museums to outdoor spaces. Given the strategic nature of their designs and the uniqueness of their surroundings, site-specific works of art ensure a one-of-a-kind aesthetic and experience.

Influences

Like many modern and contemporary genres, the installation art form is rooted in several different movements-namely, Dada, conceptualism, and performance art.

Dada

Like Dada, an avant-garde movement that emerged in the early 20th century, installations often showcase an experimental approach to art. Specifically, installation's incorporation of mixed media and emphasis on three-dimensionality are undoubtedly inspired by two Dada staples: ready-mades and assemblages.

Conceptualism

Inspired by the Dadaists, Conceptual artists believe that the idea behind a work of art takes precedence over its aesthetic. This sentiment is also present in installation art, with well-known contemporary artists like Ai Wei Wei and Damien Hirst using their celebrated installations as a means to relay messages to viewers. "As a person, I was born to give out my opinions," Ai Wei Wei explains. "By giving out my opinions, I realize who I am."

Performance Art

While performance art -a practice performed before an audience-may seem dissimilar to installation, a form of fine art, the two movements are linked by a key characteristic: a creative and conceptual use of space. In both cases, artists find innovative and inventive ways to reinterpret and reimagine everyday environments.

Now that we know what installation art is, let's take a look at the best art installations from every year since 2013 and get to know the top installation artists in the field.

Next: A look at the best art installations of 2017.

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Best of 2017: Top 10 Amazing Art Installations

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Like most movements that make up modern and contemporary art, installation art exhibits an interest in innovating. Though similar to sculpture and related to a range of recent artistic genres, the immersive practice offers a unique way to experience art.

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Throughout the course of art history, certain works have come to define movements. The , for example, is the face of the Italian Renaissance. symbolizes Post-Impressionism. And Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, a painting by modernist master Pablo Picasso, epitomizes Cubism.

Today, this Picasso painting has resonated as the artist's most prolific work of art-both in terms of his adventures in Cubism and beyond. Here, we present some interesting and important facts about this piece that illustrate why it holds such an important place in the canon of modern art.

Take a look at these facts about Pablo Picasso's groundbreaking painting, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.

The painting's original title was Le Bordel d'Avignon (The Brothel of Avignon).

Pablo Picasso completed Les Demoiselles d'Avignon in 1907. At the time, he was dividing his time between the Bohemian scenes in Paris and several locations in Spain, including Barcelona, where the painting is set. Specifically, it depicts five nude prostitutes from a brothel on Carrer d'Avinyó, or Avignon Street, in the city's Gothic quarter.

Picasso aptly called the painting Le Bordel d'Avignon (translated as The Brothel of Avignon). Its name was changed, however, during an exhibition organized by French art critic and writer André Salmon in 1916. For the show, Salmon referred to the painting by its present title in order to conceal its shocking subject matter from the public. Though this name-change clearly resonated, Picasso reportedly did not support it.

It required hundreds of preliminary sketches.

Six months prior to painting the piece, Picasso began producing hundreds of preparatory sketches. While the final painting is rendered in oil, many of these studies are completed in a range of mediums, including pencil and watercolor.

The studies for Les Demoiselles d'Avignon demonstrate the evolution of the concept and show the changes the artist made during the planning process. The most obvious of these alterations include the number of figures (some sketches include 7 figures, one of whom is a clothed male) and their positioning-though it appears that Picasso made the decision to include a crouching figure early on.

The figures are rendered in different styles.

While the figures appear aesthetically cohesive in early sketches, the final painting blends several different styles. The subject situated in the upper right corner, for example, is made up of angular, geometric forms and unusual shading; the crouching figure appears to simultaneously be portrayed from two different perspectives and has a mask-like face; and, finally, the three women on the left showcase stylized yet recognizable features more in line with Picasso's earlier work.

Why did the artist opt for so many different styles? While the reason is unclear, art historians hypothesize that Picasso was simply transitioning between styles and that this shift may have manifested in his work.

Picasso did not share it with the public for years.

While it was completed in the summer of 1907, Picasso kept Les Demoiselles d'Avignon- which is eight feet tall and just over seven feet wide-in his Montmartre studio until 1916. During this time, only a select number of people were invited to view the painting, including the artist's close circle of friends, consisting of fellow avant-garde artists and art dealers. Results were mixed.

"Most of Picasso's friends were bewildered and dismayed when, in 1907, they were allowed a glimpse of Les Demoiselles d'Avignon in his studio," John Peter writes in Vladimir's Carrot: Modern Drama and the Modern Imagination. "Even Braque was troubled and appalled: he told Picasso that looking at the painting felt like drinking petrol or eating old rope."

Matisse hated it.

Though shocked by the work, most of Picasso's friends remained supportive -except fellow artist Henri Matisse. For years, a rivalry had been building between the two, as each vied to be modern art's leading figure. "After the impact of Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, however," critic Hilton Kramer explained in an essay, Reflections on Matisse, "Matisse was never again mistaken for an avant-garde incendiary."

Fearing this eventual occurrence, Matisse was hugely critical of the painting, which he believed undermined and mocked modern art with its controversial subject matter and crude perspective. However, many art historians believe that Matisse appeared to emulate the painting the following year with Bathers with a Turtle.

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9 Facts About Picasso's Groundbreaking Painting 'Les Demoiselles d'Avignon'

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Throughout the course of art history, certain works have come to define movements. The , for example, is the face of the Italian Renaissance. symbolizes Post-Impressionism. And Les Demoiselles d'Avignon , a painting by modernist master Pablo Picasso, epitomizes Cubism.

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When real estate mogul Tony Goldman stumbled upon the Miami neighborhood of Wynwood in 2009, he was able to see something that others couldn't. Over the course of 10 years, Goldman's vision transformed the area's anonymous warehouses into blank canvases for some of the world's best street artists. To mark this anniversary, Wynwood Walls is celebrating with a host of new murals, a retrospective exhibition, and a book that celebrates its achievements.

Today, Jessica Goldman Srebnick sits at the helm of Goldman Properties and carries on her late father's art patronage. Under her watch, Wynwood Walls has expanded its art program and continued its annual painting series during Art Basel. In 2019, new murals by Kenny Scharf, Faile, Dasic, Buff Monster, and Futura joined an already rich program of public art that has made the area a must-see destination for art lovers coming to Miami.

Wynwood's artistic development has been documented by legendary street art photographer Martha Cooper since the project's inception. To celebrate the ten year anniversary, she has selected some of her favorite images of walls past and present. Through her lens, we're able to relive how these artists push themselves to the limit to go big and express themselves in this open forum.

To round out this special year, Goldman Srebnick worked with art publisher Assouline to produce Walls of Change: The Story of Wynwood Walls. Not only does the book include incredible photographs of Wynwood's most iconic walls, but it also serves as a platform for the artists themselves to speak on their experience as part of this groundbreaking project. Whether you've spent time in Wynwood or have always wanted to go, the book is a great way to bring a piece of street art history home.

Wynwood Walls, Miami's leading art district, is celebrating 10 years of transformation.

International street artists flock to the former warehouse area to paint for the project started by Tony Goldman.

An incredible roster of artists added murals for the 2019 edition, which is now run by Jessica Goldman Srebnick.

Celebrations also included an exhibit by street photographer Martha Cooper, who has documented Wynwood Walls since its inception.

A new book published by Assouline tells the history of Wynwood Walls and how art was used to transform this former warehouse district.

My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Wynwood Walls.

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Wynwood Walls Celebrates 10 Years of Transformative Street Art in Miami

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When real estate mogul Tony Goldman stumbled upon the Miami neighborhood of Wynwood in 2009, he was able to see something that others couldn't. Over the course of 10 years, Goldman's vision transformed the area's anonymous warehouses into blank canvases for some of the world's best street artists.

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Street Artist Transforms Walls Into Portals to Another Universe With 3D Graffiti

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By incorporating her love for the cosmos into her murals, street artist Izzy Izvne has created a unique style that is truly her own. The Moldovan artist combines calligraphy with well-executed illusions to make it appear that her walls are sucking us into another universe.

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Like many artists, past and present, San Francisco-based painter Jacob Dhein is inspired by the world around him. But rather than pigeonhole himself as a landscape or figurative artist, Dhein paints both. His work depicts everything, from busy cityscapes to painterly portraits, but his beautifully expressive style is consistent throughout. "Inspiration for me comes from all around," Dhein tells My Modern Met. "It could be a person I see on public transit, my family, friends, movies, books, or a beautiful backlit city scene at sunset as I am taking a walk."

While Dhein's oil paintings depict real subjects and scenes, the artist pushes the boundaries of realism by adding vibrant flashes of color with expressive brushstrokes and subtle paint drips. "It is my goal to explore the beauty that lies within the division between representation and abstraction," reveals the artist. "It will be my take on a modern impressionism using the figure and cityscape as the building blocks of this contemporary genre."

Each painting is highly textured and full of visible energy. As a viewer, you can almost imagine watching Dhein work as he quickly layers swatches of color into the canvas. "There is a visual map in many of the works that allows the viewer to see my process," explains Dhein. "This is especially evident in my paintings of dancers. From the initial toning of the panel to the last mark, the viewer is able to see the process upon close inspection."

Check out some of Dhein's oil paintings below and see more from his portfolio on his website. If you're feeling especially inspired by his work, the artist hosts painting workshops in various museums and galleries. Find out more here.

San Francisco-based artist Jacob Dhein's expressive oil paintings are inspired by the world around him.

From busy cityscapes...

To expressive portraits...

...to vivid figurative work.

His impresive style is a modern mix of realism and abstraction.

My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Jacob Dhein.

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Expressive Oil Paintings Capture the Energetic Visual Experiences of People and City Life

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Like many artists, past and present, San Francisco-based painter Jacob Dhein is inspired by the world around him. But rather than pigeonhole himself as a landscape or figurative artist, Dhein paints both. His work depicts everything, from busy cityscapes to painterly portraits, but his beautifully expressive style is consistent throughout.

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From stained-glass windows to intricate stone carvings, Gothic architecture is incredibly impressive-especially considering many features were crafted by hand. It's no surprise then that these ornate structures are the inspiration behind Bournemouth, England-based artist Phoebe Atkey 's highly-detailed architecture drawings.

From the arched doorway of Strasbourg Cathedral to Notre-Dame's famous rose windows, Atkey captures the beauty of some of Europe's most iconic buildings. The young, self-taught artist hand draws every ornate detail with incredible precision and perfect proportion. Atkey renders each drawing using a combination of pen and pencil, but keeps her palette monochrome. Clever shading and highlights make certain parts of the drawing appear three-dimensional, almost like you could reach out and touch the buildings' stoney surfaces.

Check out some of Atkey's impressive sketches below. Do you recognize the buildings and architectural features she's drawn?

Artist Phoebe Atkey creates intricately detailed architectural drawings.

The self-taught artist is inspired by some of Europe's most famous Gothic buildings.

She draws every ornate detail with incredible precision and perfect proportion.
Artist Creates Meticulously Detailed Ink Drawings of Architecture Around the World Expressive Ink Sketches Capture the Intricate Details of Italian Architecture Artist Uses Her Own Body as a Canvas for Her Detailed Architecture Sketches 3D Sketchbook Drawings of Famous Landmarks Pop Off the Page Phoebe Atkey: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Vimeo
My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Phoebe Atkey.

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Intricate Architecture Drawings Capture the Beauty of Gothic Buildings Across Europe

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From stained-glass windows to intricate stone carvings, Gothic architecture is incredibly impressive-especially considering many features were crafted by hand. It's no surprise then that these ornate structures are the inspiration behind Bournemouth, England-based artist Phoebe Atkey 's highly-detailed architecture drawings.

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Italian Renaissance-Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael-there is also Titian (c. 1488-1576), the master of color. Born into the Late Renaissance, Titian's artwork was produced within a different painting philosophy to his predecessors.
At the time, there were two leading schools of thought in painting: the Florentine and the Venetian. They can also be seen as " disegno" versus " colore," or drawing versus color. Although drawing and color are both essential elements in painting, the Florentine school emphasized that draftsmanship was the most important component in achieving naturality. By contrast, the Venetian school approached painting believing that color was the most powerful factor.

Since Titian was born into the Republic of Venice, he was naturally schooled into the Venetian style. However, it was through Titian's artistic talents and mastery of color that Venetian painting developed into the more dominant, popular style within Italy and inspired the later emergence of Baroque art.

Early Life

Titian, or Tiziano Vecellio, was estimated to have been born between 1488-90 in the town of Pieve di Cadore, Italy-which is about 80 miles north of Venice. Like many artists of this time, Titian received his start in the art world at a very young age. When he was about ten or twelve, Titian was sent away from his hometown to the cultural hub of Venice. There, through a series of family connections, young Titian found his way into the studio of Gentile Bellini (c. 1429-1507) and his younger brother, Giovanni (c. 1430-1516).

The Bellini brothers are accredited with revolutionizing the Venetian style of painting, and it is in their workshop that Titian learned the technique to the decadent, coloristic style.

Working With Giorgione

While working under Giovanni Bellini, Titian met several budding contemporary artists, including the notable Giorgione (c. 1477/78-1510). At around 1509, Titian followed the slightly older Giorgione to be his painting assistant, and together the two produced a number of famous paintings. However, their relationship was not without rivalry.

Like Titian, Giorgione inherited exquisite skills from working under the Bellini brothers, and he specialized in applying layers upon layers of colors to achieve the effect of sfumato, in which colors and tones hazily blend into one another. In spite of this, Titian was consistently pointed out by contemporary critics as the better artist. Even today, many of the paintings they created together are still ambiguously assigned to both Titian and Giorgione, as historians are unsure of the disparity of their hands.

Mastering Color

After the death of Giorgione in 1510, and Giovanni Bellini in 1516, Titian was the leading upholder of the Venetian style. Slowly, Titian began to leave behind the styles of his tutors and fulfill his own artistic vision. Likewise, Titian's fame and popularity as a painter grew and among the star-studded list of clients were Doges, kings, princes, duchesses, popes, cardinals, and artists. Titian achieved equal success to Michelangelo and even obtained the Freedom of the City when he visited Rome in 1546.

Final Years

Even when Titian was already an established, well-off artist in his sixties, he did not stop cultivating his painting style. In fact, according to historical sources, Titian became more perfectionist in his old age, keeping canvases for up to ten years at a time.
What is most notable in the later phase of Titian's art is that naturalistic painting-which had dominated the Renaissance as the ideal for so long-ceased to hold interest for him. During this period, Titian's brushstrokes became looser, and his colors and textures more atmospheric. These last works especially show their effects on subsequent art movements like the Baroque period.
Legacy

After a long, prolific, and successful life, Titian died between 87-88 years of age, leaving his last painting, Pietà, unfinished.

What Titian started to do in his final working years had lasting effects on the course of western art history. Titian freed the use of color and brushstrokes to an unprecedented degree that inspired both contemporaries like Tintoretto and El Greco, as well as succeeding artists like Rubens and Delacroix.

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Who Is Titian? Exploring the Life and Art of the Renaissance Master of Color

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Italian Renaissance-Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael-there is also Titian (c. 1488-1576), the master of color. Born into the Late Renaissance, Titian's artwork was produced within a different painting philosophy to his predecessors.At the time, there were two leading schools of thought in painting: the Florentine and the Venetian.

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Bold, innovative, progressive, experimental-all words that describe art that pushes boundaries and creates change. These characteristics are also all associated with a term that is often used but sometimes misconceived- avant-garde. The French term, which translates to "advance guard" or "vanguard," refers to something visionary and ahead of its time.

Used frequently to discuss artistic contributions to society and culture, avant-garde is responsible for some of the most memorable works in history. But how does one characterize avant-garde art? And who are the forward-thinking artists that took the risks that now define art history?

In terms of art, avant-garde is usually tied to some sort of aesthetic innovation-one that is often misunderstood or unaccepted in its own time. It's a concept that applies to those creatives who have pushed against mainstream ideals and, though it's often used in relation to modernism, there are plenty of historic artists whose work can be seen as avant-garde during their time.

Before we dive into some of the most well-known avant-garde artists and art movements, let's look at where the term comes from and how it took on its current meaning. Initially, it was used by the French military and referred to a small group of troops that carried out reconnaissance ahead of the main army. Over the course of the 19th century, it began being applied to left-wing socialist thinkers and their calls for political reform. In fact, it was the influential French socialist Henri de Saint-Simon who first applied the term to art.

In an 1825 text, he grouped artists together with scientists and industrialists as leaders of society that could guide people forward. From there, avant-garde was a term regularly applied to artists, with many citing the realism of Gustave Courbet as a starting point. Subsequently, many modern movements would see the term applied, though one could easily say that earlier artists like Leonardo da Vinci or Caravaggio were certainly avant-garde by breaking with traditional art practices. Even the Italian Renaissance itself was an avant-garde movement for its attention to perspective and realism in a way that was unheard of previously.

Avant-Garde Art Movements

While this is by no means an exhaustive list, here are some of the more memorable modern art movements in Western history that are considered avant-garde for breaking boundaries.

Impressionism

While Impressionist art may not seem avant-garde by contemporary standards, the movement was revolutionary in its time. Rejected by the traditional Paris Salon, painters like Monet, Degas, and Renoir favored landscapes and scenes of daily life over the accepted historical and mythological subjects. They also broke with tradition by moving out of the studio and painting en plein air.
Iconic Impressionist Paintings:
The Luncheon on the Grass by Manet

Luncheon of the Boating Party by Renoir

Impression, Sunrise by Monet

Dada

Dada can be a difficult movement to pin down because the output of its artists is so diverse. It was formed in Switzerland during World War I and is revolutionary for its focus on making work that wasn't necessarily aesthetically pleasing. Its purpose, instead, was to question capitalist society and its values. Dada also made use of readymades-everyday objects appropriated as pieces of art-as a way to question bourgeois sensibilities and the role of the artist in creativity. Dada had a profound influence on other avant-garde movements that followed, like Cubism and Fluxus.
Iconic Dada Art:
Fountain by Marcel Duchamp

Glass Tears by Man Ray

The Art Critic by Raoul Hausmann

Surrealism

Surrealism is a highly experimental genre based on principals of the subconscious mind, borrowed from a literary technique called automatism. This break from reality gave Surrealists like Rene Magritte, Salvador Dalí, and Man Ray complete creative freedom, as they were no longer guided by academic principals. The dreamlike scenery of their art combines realistic renderings of fantastical subject matter. Surrealists were also well-known for dabbling in many forms of art, from painting and sculpture to photography and film.
Iconic Surrealist Art:
The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dalí

The Son of Man by Rene Magritte

The Great Masturbator by Salvador Dalí

Cubism

By completely abandoning traditional forms and moving toward abstraction, is one of the most well-known avant-garde movements. Founders Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso played with all the traditional, academic rules of Western art and transformed them into a new, unexpected method for creating art. Figures were broken into geometric shapes, colors were brightened and simplified, and collage was incorporated for an innovative result that continues to shape art today. In fact, looking at a timeline of art history, Western visual culture can be split clearly into two pieces-before and after Cubism.
Important Cubist Artworks:
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon by Pablo Picasso

Three Musicians by Pablo Picasso

Still Life with Metronome by Georges Braque

Fluxus

Taking shape in the 1960s and 1970s, Fluxus is an interdisciplinary movement that involved artists, designers, composers, and poets. Heavily influenced by Dada, members of Fluxus staged performance art events that included noise music, poetry readings, time-based performances and much more. Composer John Cage had a great deal of influence in Fluxus and his notion that interaction between an artist and the audience was the most important phase of work-rather than the finished product-was often followed. Avant-garde artists like Joseph Beuys, Yoko Ono, and Nam June Paik were all active in Fluxus.
Important Moments in Fluxus:
Cut Piece by Yoko Ono

Zen for Film by Nam June Paik

Make a Salad by Alison Knowles

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Unraveling the Mystery of Avant-Garde Art

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Bold, innovative, progressive, experimental-all words that describe art that pushes boundaries and creates change. These characteristics are also all associated with a term that is often used but sometimes misconceived- avant-garde. The French term, which translates to "advance guard" or "vanguard," refers to something visionary and ahead of its time.

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Late Renaissance and the emerging Mannerist art movement is the coveted work of Greek painter Doménikos Theotokópoulous (1541-1614). The artist-who was more widely known as El Greco ("The Greek"), a nickname he earned during his life abroad in Italy and Spain-had an individual style. His work featured elongated figures and expressionist color, which was inspired by several schools of art that were active during his lifetime, including the Post-Byzantine tradition in his home of Crete.
Although his art was regarded as quite radical and out of place while he was alive, El Greco's legacy had lasting impacts on the development of both Expressionist and Cubist art movements. Here, we follow the artist's itinerant life and how it produced exceptionally unique art that impressed successors like Paul Cézanne and Pablo Picasso.

Early Life
El Greco was born on October 1, 1541 to a wealthy family in the Kingdom of Candia-modern-day Crete-which was a colony of the Republic of Venice. Little is known about his early years, except that El Greco began training as an icon painter of the Post-Byzantine style at a young age. By the time he was 22, the artist was a master in the style and fulfilling commissions at local Orthodox churches.
Studying in Italy
When El Greco was about 26 years of age he left Crete to further his career in Venice. There, the young artist is believed to have found apprenticeship under the venerable master Titian and learned the Venetian style of color-driven painting.
In 1570, El Greco moved to Rome where he sought inspiration from the works of Mannerist painters like Parmigianino. As a result, El Greco added Mannerist elements to his own artwork, such as elongated figures and distorted perspective.

Working in Spain
After several years spent in Rome, El Greco moved to Spain in 1577. He settled in the religious hub of Toledo and spent some time working on commissions for King Philip II of Spain in hopes of becoming a court painter. However, the king rejected El Greco's stylistic painting.
As a result, El Greco focused his creative efforts within Toledo and soon garnered a respectable reputation. Over time, he was able to establish a successful workshop with assistants, capable of fulfilling altar commissions for churches in Toledo and elsewhere in Spain.

Style & Legacy

Although El Greco was exposed to several schools of art, he was also determined to forge his own path. Consequently, his expressive, dramatic style stands out from his contemporaries as highly unique. For this reason, many historians hesitate to associate him with any one school.
After his death in 1614, El Greco's art dwindled in popularity. The Baroque painters that succeeded him rejected the chaotic nature of his paintings. It wasn't until the 1800s that El Greco's work was rediscovered by artists like Paul Cézanne, who was greatly inspired by El Greco's loosely defined backgrounds.
Additionally, Pablo Picasso studied El Greco's art extensively during his Blue Period and Cubist explorations. In fact, historians have compared El Greco's painting The Opening of the Fifth Seal to Picasso's famous Les Demoiselles d'Avignon-noticing significant similarities in composition and form.

Despite not being fully accepted during his own lifetime, El Greco nonetheless left a lasting legacy on the course of modern art. His free, unnatural style laid the foundation for Expressionist art movements, including the Blaue Reiter group.

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The Radical Art of the Spanish Renaissance Painter Known as "El Greco"

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Late Renaissance and the emerging Mannerist art movement is the coveted work of Greek painter Doménikos Theotokópoulous (1541-1614). The artist-who was more widely known as El Greco ("The Greek"), a nickname he earned during his life abroad in Italy and Spain-had an individual style.

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Watercolor painting is one of the most accessible forms of art. More likely than not, everyone has tried this type of painting at some point in their life, whether it be in art class as a child or just discovering it as an adult. Despite this familiarity, however, many people don't know its rich history and some of the most famous watercolor artists who have made the medium what it is today.

Similar to textile art, watercolor painting has roots in Paleolithic Europe, but it gained some popularity in manuscript illumination in the Middle Ages. Using brightly colored pigments, artists illustrated small scenes and decorative designs in the margins of handwritten books. These elaborate texts weren't for everyone-it took four people to create one illuminated manuscript-and the often-religious works were mostly confined to monasteries.

The Renaissance brought watercolor painting into the spotlight. It went beyond decorative manuscripts and into the works of artists like Albrecht Dürer. He, like other easel painters during that time, used watercolor for sketches, copies, or informal drawings. Watercolor painting was also adopted by the elite class as part of their overall education and eventually popularized-particularly in England-as a way to chronicle one's travels. But while watercolor painting was well known, it was not taken as seriously as oil painting or printmaking.

In the 19th century, however, watercolors had a major bump in status. There was a general excitement about worldwide exploration, and wildlife and nature illustrations were used to illustrate scientific publications. Artist and ornithologist John James Audubon represents the height of this movement, and he used watercolor painting to help bring his realistic drawings of birds to life. His famous book, The Birds of America (1827 - 1839), identified 25 new species. With it, he began an artistic tradition that still lives on today-field guides as illustrated with watercolors.

While Audubon had a restrained, technical approach to his work, other famous watercolor artists weren't as precise. Georgia O'Keeffe, for instance, played with the fluidity of the medium to create paintings that are beautiful fields of intense color. Like Audubon, she was inspired by the natural world, but her interpretation of it is the complete opposite. Together, they demonstrate the incredible range that watercolor has.

To understand the appeal of watercolor painting today, learn more about some of the most famous watercolor artists throughout history.

Albrecht Dürer (1471 - 1528)

Albrecht Dürer was a man of many talents and was known for his paintings, woodcuts, and engravings. In terms of watercolor, he was considered one of the first prominent European painters to use the medium in his work. This took the form of sketches of landscapes and nature, which we're still able to see today thanks to his almost-obsessive collection of work.

Like Dürer, J.M.W. Turner dabbled in more than watercolor painting. Counting poetry and teaching as part of his interests, his general artistic talent was nurtured from a young age. He used his skills in watercolors to show in exhibitions and produce commercial works that provided him his "first real income." Later, Turner used the medium as a way to chronicle his travels-his passion for it never waning. The last decade of his working life featured a surge in watercolor painting production.

William Blake (1757 - 1827)

William Blake is considered one of the greatest poets in the English language, but his art is noteworthy as well. After studying it as a child, he had an apprenticeship with an engraver before trying watercolor painting. Eventually, he perfected his technique of "fresco," which is basically monotype printing; he first painted a design on a flat surface (like a copper plate) and then applied it to paper. The designs were then individually finished in ink and watercolor, ensuring that each image was one of a kind.

John James Audubon (1785 - 1851)

It was about 90 years ago that John James Audubon completed The Birds of America, but it's still lauded as being one of the best ornithological books ever produced. Audubon's quest to document our feathered friends also helped start the artistic tradition of naturalistic renderings being completed with watercolor.

Elizabeth Murray (1815 - 1882)

British artist Elizabeth Murray learned watercolor painting from her father, Thomas Heaphy, who was also a watercolorist. The two traveled together, and Murray spent extensive time in Rome, Morroco, and the Canary Islands. Over the course of 10 years, she painted the landscape as well as portraits from her travels, too. Her works are known for her color choices which use brown, violet, blue, black, red, and gold, as well as olive and tan colors to give them a warm-toned appearance.

Thomas Moran (1837 - 1926)

Thomas Moran is famous for his landscape watercolors, particularly those of Yellowstone National Park. In fact, it's his ethereal images of its geysers and hot springs that helped convinced the U.S. Congress to formally designate it as Yellowstone National Park in 1892. Moran's practice was informed by the Hudson River and Rocky Mountain schools-artistic schools and movements that shaped the aesthetics and imagery of 19th-century American landscape painting.

Winslow Homer (1836 - 1910)

Self-taught painter Winslow Homer based his artistic practice of being in the moment. Although a very private person, one of his contemporaries, artist Eugene Benson, wrote that Homer believed artists "should never look at pictures." Rather, they should "stutter in a language of their own" and paint (or draw) directly from life. For Homer, this meant idyllic, quiet scenes of everyday life that he completed at home in Massachusetts as well as trips abroad.

John Singer Sargent (1856 - 1925)

John Singer Sargent is renowned for his portraiture, but his watercolor works mark a departure from them. In a similar tradition to other painters, his watercolors were often of landscapes that documented his travels. In these compositions, Sargent tweaked his style to reflect the playful fluidity of the medium; whereas his oil portraits were tightly rendered, the watercolor images of ships and the shore were done in a gestural style.

Georgia O'Keeffe (1887 - 1986)

Georgia O'Keeffe began experimenting with watercolors in her late 20s as a way to play with color and composition. This was before her iconic oil paintings of flowers, and the abstracted watercolors chronicle her artistic journey to becoming comfortable working in a less representational style.

In 1911, Paul Klee joined an artist group called Blaue Reiter, an organization that used their work as a way to express "spiritual truths." Interested in the likes of non-figurative art and primitivism, color was an important part of the group's aesthetic. Klee's watercolor paintings were a means of experimentation in order to understand his relationship with the "realm of color."

Charles Demuth (1883 - 1935)

Charles Demuth artistically came of age during modernism, and his encounters with Cubism were a big influence to his watercolor works. This love of sharp lines and geometric shapes made him a founding member of the Precisionist Movement; his structured elements were paired with diffused washes, fusing order and chaos.

Reginald Marsh (1898 - 1954)

Reginald Marsh's works have become synonymous with New York City. During the 1930s and 40s, he chronicled the everyday life of the bustling metropolis; this included areas on the fringe like burlesque parlors and Coney Island. With such observational skills, his work was a perfect fit for journalism, and he worked for The Daily News. Of watercolor, he said, "Watercolor I took up and took to it well, with no introduction."

Andrew Wyeth (1917 - 2009)

American artist Andrew Wyeth is the son of a well-known illustrator, N.C. Wyeth. Thanks to his father's guidance, Andrew mastered watercolor at an early age. By 20 years old, he had his first solo exhibition featuring all watercolor paintings. (The show sold out.) As his career continued to grow, Andrew expanded his chosen media to egg tempera, but he continued to create watercolors inspired by his solitary walks in his hometown of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania as well as Cushing, Maine.

Edward Hopper (1882 - 1967)

Edward Hopper is known for oil paintings like the iconic Nighthawks, but the artist was adept at watercolors, too. In both media, Hopper's focus was the same; the American experience as seen through landscapes. "My aim in painting," he's quoted as saying, "has always been the most exact transcription possible of my most intimate impressions of nature."

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10+ Famous Watercolor Artists Who Continue to Influence Painting Today

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Watercolor painting is one of the most accessible forms of art. More likely than not, everyone has tried this type of painting at some point in their life, whether it be in art class as a child or just discovering it as an adult.

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When we think of what life must have been like in prehistoric times, we don't often leave much space to consider the art these people may have left behind. In reality, even 30,000 years ago, populations of people were producing what was-at the time-sophisticated works of art as a means of expression. Nothing exemplifies this more than the cave paintings at Altamira.

Located near Santillana del Mar in Cantabria, Spain, the Altamira cave is a treasure trove of information about life in the Paleolithic period. From rudimentary stone tools to bone carvings, there are many artifacts that give a glimpse into daily life during the Stone Age. But, above all, this UNESCO World Heritage Site is known for its enormous collection of cave paintings.

Only discovered in the 19th century (because the entrance was covered during a rockfall), the well-preserved paintings revolutionized the way we think about prehistoric art. These incredible depictions of animals, hands, and abstract symbols remain vital in demonstrating just how sophisticated certain cultures got during the Paleolithic period.

Is your curiosity piqued? Read on to discover 6 incredible facts about the revolutionary Altamira cave paintings.

A young girl's observations helped lead to their discovery.

The caves were first discovered in 1868 by a local hunter named Modest Cubillas. He told the owner of the cave, nobleman Marcelino Sanz de Sautola, about what he found, but Sanza de Sautola didn't make his way to the caves until 1876. Once there, he wasn't impressed by what he perceived as senseless symbols. But, after a trip to the 1878 Universal Exhibition in Paris, where he saw pieces of caved bone similar to what he'd seen in the cave, he realized that it was something special.

This led to him partnering with Juan Vilanova y Piera, an archeologist from the University of Madrid, to start excavations in 1879. At first, they began unearthing animal bones and small tools. It was actually Sanza de Sautola's 8-year-old daughter Maria, who accompanied him to the caves one day, who first noticed paintings of bison within one of the chambers.

The findings of the excavations were published in 1880 but we were dismissed by most scholars, who took the paintings for modern forgeries. It was only at the turn of the twentieth century, when other similar paintings were found in the region, that they were acknowledged as the genuine artworks we know today.

The Altamira cave paintings were created over the course of 20,000 years.

We know that the cave was inhabited for millennia during the Paleolithic age, but scientists are still working to narrow the timeframe on exactly when the Altamira Cave paintings were created.

Based on the dating of different objects found in the caves, archeologists are certain that there were two main cultures that used the location-the Solutrean (about 21,000 to 17,000 years ago) and the Magdalenian (around 11,000 to 17,000 years old). These populations symbolize the apex of culture during the Upper Paleolithic Period and were known for their toolmaking and artistry. They would be responsible for the majority of the paintings at Altamira.

Using uranium-thorium dating, researchers in 2008 discovered that the paintings themselves were probably created over a span of 20,000 years. A later study in 2012 confirmed that there were at least 10,000 years between different paintings in the caves.

Artists had cramped quarters to execute their paintings.

The Altamira cave is 971 feet long, and while humans only inhabited the entrance chamber, there are paintings found throughout the length of the cave. The artists had no problem going over other, previous paintings and so the cave has become a palimpsest of art.

Most of what Altamira is known for is painted on the roof, which is astounding when one considers that the chamber where most of the paintings are found has a variable height of 3.8 feet to 8.7 feet. This meant that most of the artists had to crouch down as they worked.

The work in this chamber is a combination of engraving and painting. Most figures were first etched into the stone with tools and then painted over in black, red, and violet hues. As the most realistic and sophisticated paintings, these were created by the later Magdalenian culture.

Animals are a dominant subject in the cave paintings.

With such a long period of production, it should come as no surprise that the cave paintings are quite varied. The most famous paintings in the cave are probably the 25 colored paintings of bison, deer, and horses etched and then painted on the roof of the cave. Impressively, one female deer measures over 6.5 feet. In terms of material, charcoal was used to make black lines, while they ground hematite to create the red ochre used to fill in shapes.

Older paintings in the caves include positive and negative images of hands, many depictions of deer, and "masks" created by strategically drawing eyes and a mouth around bumps in the stone. In fact, this technique was used throughout the history of the Altamira cave paintings, as the three dimensional quality of the rocks were used to give volume to figures.

Altamira shows an important step forward in the history of art.

Altamira is vital for learning more about daily life in the Paleolithic Period. In terms of art history, the cave paintings executed during the late Magdalenian culture, which include the bison and deer, are of vital importance. They show a realism and sophistication that is unparalleled for the time. In fact, the best example of art by the Magdalenian is located in Altamira.

Though the individual paintings don't necessarily have a relationship or compositional tie between them, there is a sophistication in how volume, expressions, and perspective were shown that make them the high point of prehistoric art.

The paintings may have been used in religious rituals.

While researchers don't know exactly why these cave paintings were created, their production certainly shows that these cultures had the leisure time to produce them. This points to cultures that weren't only surviving, but thriving. In terms of a specific purpose, some experts believe that the paintings may have been used during a ritual where a shaman would enter the cave and go into a trance in order to make contact with spirits.

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6 Incredible Facts About the Prehistoric Altamira Cave Paintings

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When we think of what life must have been like in prehistoric times, we don't often leave much space to consider the art these people may have left behind. In reality, even 30,000 years ago, populations of people were producing what was-at the time-sophisticated works of art as a means of expression.

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When we think about the "greatest" of all time, what does that really mean? What earns someone that title? Is it sheer genius and innovation? Hard work and perseverance? In the history of art, there are a lot of incredible painters. But there are some who stand just a hair above the rest and have created a lasting legacy that endures well beyond their lifetime.

So who are the greatest painters of all time? Not only are they technically skilled, but these artists have all made important contributions that have changed Western culture. Many of these artists were considered avant-garde because they pushed boundaries and made startling innovations. Most were already considered geniuses during their lifetimes and enjoyed unparalleled success, while others weren't acknowledged until after their death.

To be considered one of the greatest painters of all time, one needs to possess a special combination of technical skills, outlandish creative thinking, and determination. Blended together, all of these attributes produce outstanding works of genius that continue to thrill, some hundreds of years after their initial creation.

We've put together our list of the 15 greatest painters of all time, taking into consideration all of these factors. While you may have a few names you'd like to see on this list, there's no denying that the artists selected have made an indelible impact on art and culture as we know it.

15 Greatest Painters of All Time

Leonardo da Vinci

Not only did Leonardo da Vinci experiment with mediums, but he also innovated different ways of creating striking compositions. In fact, his signature triangular composition is still used today and is widely considered one of the most visually pleasing painting layouts. He was also an early advocate of studying anatomical models to perfect his art, something that was illegal at the time.
Best Places to View da Vinci:
Michelangelo

While Michelangelo may have viewed himself as a sculptor, his placement on this list shows his true genius. Though relatively few Michelangelo paintings survive, those that do are considered some of the best in the world. His ability to quickly master fresco painting and take it to new heights is evident in both the Sistine Chapel Ceiling and The Last Judgement, which continue to inspire artists today.
Best Places to View Michelangelo:
Vatican Museums ( Buy tickets)
Uffizi Galleries ( Buy tickets)

Artemisia Gentileschi

This powerhouse of Baroque painting is also one of the first female artists to see great success. Through the course of the 17th century, Artemisia Gentileschi created dynamic and explosive paintings that feature her trademark chiaroscuro and rich colors. While her art was sometimes overshadowed by her Baroque peer Caravaggio, over time her incredible skill and role in pioneering female artists have come to be appreciated.
Best Places to View Artemisia Gentileschi:
Rembrandt

Rembrandt van Rijn is so famous that even today we call this Dutch master by his first name. Painting everything from genre scenes to landscapes to great historical and mythological paintings, Rembrandt was the dominant force in Dutch art for much of the 17th century. His masterful use of light, as well as his refined and expressive approach to painting have made him a favorite amongst art lovers to this day.
Best Places to View Rembrandt:
JMW Turner

British Romantic painter JMW Turner is known as a forerunner of modern art. Coming from traditional Neo-classical painting, Turner began striving for realism in his work-which was unheard of at the time. Through thousands of watercolors and oil paintings, he experimented with light, color, and brushwork. He even worked on his oil paintings outside, something that would later influence the Impressionists.
Best Places to View Turner:
Vincent van Gogh

Though he is seen today as one of the most influential painters in Western art, Vincent van Gogh was not commercially successful during his lifetime. Since the early 20th century, however, his masterful paintings have been prized for their expressive emotion. Filled with dramatic brushstrokes and bold color, the Post-Impressionist painter's artwork is a roadmap to modern art.
Best Places to View Van Gogh:
Paul Cézanne

Leading Post-Impressionist painter Paul Cézanne has enjoyed a lasting legacy thanks to his innovative approach to perspective, vivid color palette, and use of painterly brushstrokes. In fact, his preference for breaking down forms and using bold tones has often led him to be called a precursor to Cubism.
Best Places to View Cézanne:
Claude Monet

From bringing his easel out of the studio and into the environment to his landmark studies of time and light, Claude Monet is perhaps the most beloved of all Impressionist painters. In fact, his painting Impression, Sunrise is credited with launching the entire art movement.
Best Places to View Monet:
Mary Cassatt

As part of the Impressionist group, Mary Cassatt had a significant role in shaping the movement's legacy. The American artist broke boundaries with her loose brushstrokes and luminous colors and is well known for her focus on mothers and children as her subjects. Her intimate depictions showing even the most ordinary moments in motherhood was revolutionary at the time and had helped forge her legacy.
Best Places to View Mary Cassatt:
Tamara de Lempicka

Polish artist Tamara de Lempicka was a superstar of the early 20th century. Rubbing elbows with the avant-garde in Paris, she turned away from Impressionism-the popular style of the time-and focused on blazing her own trail. The graphic quality of her work and their rich, vivid colors made her a leader of Art Deco painting. Today, her work continues to be used as inspiration for designers and is emblematic of this Golden Age.
Best Places to View Tamara de Lempicka:
Pablo Picasso

In a wide-ranging career that moves through multiple styles, Pablo Picasso is undoubtedly one of the most recognized names in Western art. His role in launching Cubism would be enough to cement his status in the history books, but Picasso did much more. He is recognized for showing how Classical art can be mastered-and then manipulated-to become something new, fresh, and modern.
Best Places to View Picasso:
Frida Kahlo

Her highly intimate series of self-portraits and her embracement of her cultural heritage are just some of the things that make Frida Kahlo one of the greatest painters of the 20th century. Today she has become a pop culture icon, but this shouldn't overshadow her great skill as a painter and her innovations in bringing Mexican culture to a wider audience. Her deeply personal self-portraits also point to a new direction for modern artists, where art was about expressing inner emotion rather than attempting to please a collector or patron.
Best Places to View Frida Kahlo:
Georgia O'Keeffe

Pioneering artist Georgia O'Keeffe managed to turn a standard type of painting on its head with her creative vision. While flower painting is a long-held tradition, no one had ever done it quite like O'Keeffe. Not only was she one of the first American artists to create abstract drawings, but zoomed in depictions of flowers have remained unique throughout history. Drawn to the American Southwest, O'Keeffe's explosive artwork helped bring attention to a new part of the country at a time when modern art was focused in New York City.
Best Places to View Georgia O'Keeffe:
Jackson Pollock

American painter Jackson Pollock is best known for his innovative painting technique. By dripping paint on the canvas, the Abstract Expressionist created dynamic, abstract artwork that revolutionized the art scene. Pollock used the force of his whole body to splash and pour paint on his canvases, upending traditional notions of how painters were meant to operate.
Best Places to View Pollock:
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15 of the Greatest Painters of All Time Whose Influences Live On Today

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When we think about the "greatest" of all time, what does that really mean? What earns someone that title? Is it sheer genius and innovation? Hard work and perseverance? In the history of art, there are a lot of incredible painters.

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The Italian Renaissance is regarded as one of the most vibrant periods in western art history. Artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo created highly realistic works that emphasized a renewed interest in anatomy and proportion. To find the catalyst for this remarkable change, one has to look back to a painter from the Proto-Renaissance period named Giotto.

At a time when the Byzantine style of flat, stylized compositions dominated Italy, Giotto based his art on life. His naturalistic paintings set the foundation for successors like Botticelli and Michelangelo. So much so that Giotto is often regarded as the father of the Italian Renaissance, and even the father of European painting.

Here, we explore Giotto's mythic life and the development of his naturalist style.

Early Life

Giotto di Bondone (c. 1267-1337) was estimated to have been born around the year 1267 near Florence. According to myth, Giotto was raised in the countryside as a young shepherd, where he often drew pictures of sheep on the ground. The story goes that one day, the esteemed Byzantine-style painter Cimabue spotted Giotto's talent and offered him an apprenticeship.

The Renaissance historian Vasari writes many allegorical examples of Giotto's prodigious talent. In one incident, Giotto painted a fly on the wall that was so realistic, Cimabue tried in vain to brush it off. In another, Giotto demonstrated his skill to the current pope by drawing a perfect circle without the use of any tool. Although the accuracy of these episodes is dubious, it is true that Giotto's skills surpassed his tutor after not too long, and he established himself as a dominant painter.

The Scrovegni Chapel

Between 1303 and 1310, Giotto produced his most famous work inside the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua. His frescoes were divided into 37 narrative scenes which focused on the theme of Salvation and emphasized the Virgin Mary. He arranged the cycle into 3 tiers on the walls and placed the painting of The Last Judgement on the counterfacade. The entire decoration of the Scrovegni Chapel is unified by Giotto's heavy use of the expensive ultramarine blue-although much of it has decayed over time.

Style

Unlike his tutor Cimabue, Giotto did not follow the Byzantine style, in which figures were stylized and floating. Instead, he drew from life-imbuing his characters with emotion and realism. Even the figures' clothes have naturalistic drapery. Additionally, Giotto uses foreshortening and forced perspective in many of his compositions, giving a sense of depth to his paintings.

Later Years

Giotto achieved remarkable fame and prestige during his lifetime and traveled to commissions across Italy, including Rome, Naples, and Assisi. In Naples, Giotto was made first court painter by King Robert with a yearly pension. Eventually, however, Giotto returned to Florence, where he worked until his death in January of 1337.

Legacy

Giotto's greatness was not only renowned among artist circles during his lifetime. He was also immortalized by his contemporary Dante in The Divine Comedy when a painter in Purgatorio (XI, 94-96) said: "Cimabue believed that he held the field/In painting, and now Giotto has the cry,/ So the fame of the former is obscure."

The emotion and naturalism of Giotto's painting was highly popular and spurred an increased interest in concepts of realism and perspective that had been dormant since antiquity. Eventually, these humanist interests culminated in the Renaissance, where Giotto's name became legend.

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Who Is Giotto? Learn About the Life and Art of the Father of the Renaissance

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The Italian Renaissance is regarded as one of the most vibrant periods in western art history. Artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo created highly realistic works that emphasized a renewed interest in anatomy and proportion. To find the catalyst for this remarkable change, one has to look back to a painter from the Proto-Renaissance period named Giotto.

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As one of the world's oldest civilizations, it comes as no surprise that China boasts a rich history of art. Over the course of over 3,000 years, the country has crafted a vibrant culture made up of countless art forms, that, together, help paint a picture of China's fascinating evolution. Here, we unearth some of the age-old country's most important artistic contributions, from ancient pottery to classical poetry to contemporary installation.

These seven art forms are at the core of Chinese art history.

Neolithic Pottery

One of China's oldest types of art is Neolithic pottery. Named for the period in which it was produced, this genre of art includes ceramic pieces crafted from around 10000 BCE to 2000 BCE. Though early Neolithic pottery was left unpainted, many works-particularly, pieces created by the Yanshao people, who lived along the Yellow River from 5000 BCE to 3000 BCE-were decorated by pressing cords into them, leaving distinctive patterned imprints.

Toward the end of the Neolithaic era, the Yanshao began painting their ceramics, with geometric designs and human faces among the most favored motifs.

Ritual Jades

Jade objects were another popular handicraft that emerged in Neolithic China. First mined in 6000 BCE, this " imperial gem " developed into a sought-after staple in several Chinese cultures, with important sites found in Liangzhu (an ancient region in present-day Zhejiang), the Liaoning province, and Inner Mongolia.

Extracted from metamorphic rocks, this luminous green mineral was used to create a range of objects. While some-including cups, vases, and ornaments-simply served decorative and practical purposes, others were ceremonial in nature. Ritual jade artifacts like the cylindrical cong and the bi disk, for example, were deeply symbolic, referencing the Earth and Heaven, respectively. Found in burial sites across Liangzhu, these funerary objects are among China's most mysterious creations.

Bronze Vessels

As the Neolithic period dwindled, ancient China ushered in a new era: the Bronze Age. Beginning around 2000 BCE, the Bronze Age is characterized by the emergence of bronze. Like jade, this material was used to craft both utilitarian and ritual objects, with vessels among the most prevalent.

One major development that helps define the Bronze Age in China is piece-mold casting, a method of "sculpting" the metal. "In piece-mold casting," the Metropolitan Museum of Art explains, "a model is made of the object to be cast, and a clay mold taken of the model. The mold is then cut in sections to release the model, and the sections are reassembled after firing to form the mold for casting."

Popular during the Shang Dynasty (1600 to 1046 BCE), piece-mold casting was favored by artisans, as it enabled them to easily achieve delicate and detailed designs by inscribing the molds.

Poetry

While fine art has been prominent in China for millennia, poetry has proven to be equally important. Since emerging over 2,000 years ago with the Shih Ching (a collection of 305 poems compiled into "The Book of Songs" or, more literally, "The Classic of Poetry") and the Chu Ci (a 17-section anthology whose title translates to "Verses of Chu"), this art form has remained a staple of Chinese culture.

Poetry crafted until the May Fourth Movement -a cultural and political upheaval driven by student protests in 1919-is known as Classical. It is predominantly defined by a concise use of characters and, often, the presence of rhyme. Modern poetry, on the contrary, is more experimental in nature, employing free verse and a range of Chinese languages. In both cases, poems can be spoken, chanted, or written-often in calligraphy.

Calligraphy

Calligraphy is a unique genre of graphic art. Crafted with a brush and ink, calligraphy has highlighted the understated beauty of Chinese characters since the Shang dynasty (circa 1600-1100 BCE). However, it was not until the 4th century CE that it reached an almost ethereal status.

Calligraphy literally translates to " beautiful writing." Don't let this straightforward title fool you, however; calligraphy is no ordinary art form. In fact, as the Asia Society notes, "in China, from a very early period, calligraphy was considered not just a form of decorative art. Instead, it was viewed as the supreme visual art form, was more valued than painting and sculpture, and ranked alongside poetry as a means of self-expression and cultivation." This is due not only to its aesthetic, but to the physical skill and literacy that it requires.

Landscape Painting

Calligraphy continued to enjoy its artistic monopoly for centuries. However, during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), painting finally joined its ranks. Though the two art forms have much in common, including technique and materials, they diverge when it comes to subject matter. While calligraphers focus on characters, 10th-century painters concentrated on the world around them. Specifically, they looked to landscapes.

Like calligraphic works, landscape paintings are more than meets the eye. In addition to showcasing the beauty of nature, such works addressed "specific social, philosophical, or political convictions." However, they also simply served as a means of self-expression, offering a glimpse into the "inner landscape of the artist's heart and mind."

Contemporary Installation

Today, this ability to immerse viewers in the artist's own spirit is present in another art form: installation. Installation art is a modern movement characterized by works of art that are interactive, large-scale, and usually site-specific. This genre has become popular among many contemporary Chinese artists, with Ai Weiwei at the forefront.

A leading figure in the realm of contemporary art, Ai Weiwei has established a practice that invites today's audiences to view China's history through a modern lens. "My work is always a ready-made," he said, "cultural, political, or social, and also it could be art-to make people re-look at what we have done, its original position, to create new possibilities."

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7 Important Types of Chinese Art, From Ancient Pottery to Modern Poetry

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As one of the world's oldest civilizations, it comes as no surprise that China boasts a rich history of art. Over the course of over 3,000 years, the country has crafted a vibrant culture made up of countless art forms, that, together, help paint a picture of China's fascinating evolution.

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Whether aiming to perfect a technique, master a subject, or simply explore an interest, artists often return to the same iconography over and over again. This approach has been taken by some of art history's most influential figures, with Fra Angelico -a religious painter of the Renaissance-at the forefront.

Over the course of roughly 15 years, Angelico completed several renditions of the Annunciation, an ethereal event that remains at the core of certain Christian teachings. Rendered as spirited panel paintings, shimmering altarpieces, and vibrant frescoes, Angelico's Annunciations seem to float above other artists' interpretations.

What is the Annunciation?

In the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions, the Annunciation refers to the event in which the Archangel Gabriel told Mary that she was chosen by God to conceive and bear his son, Jesus. The Annunciation is described in
In the sixth month, Gabriel the angel was sent from God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man called Joseph, from the family of David. The virgin was called Mary. 28 'Greetings, favored one!' said the angel when he arrived. 'May the Lord be with you!'
Given both its religious significance and the simplicity of the scene itself, the Annunciation has been a favored subject among artists for centuries. Notable renderings of this scene include an ancient Roman fresco in the Priscilla catacomb (a quarry used for Christian burials in the 3rd century); a richly detailed, large-scale painting by Northern Renaissance pioneer Jan van Eyck; a symbolic panel painting by a young Leonardo da Vinci; and, of course, a dedicated series of works by Fra Angelico, a Tuscan-born friar whose paintings helped shape the High Renaissance.

Angelico's Annunciation Series

Given the Annunciation's popularity among all kinds of artists, its appeal to Fra Angelico-whose adopted name translates to "Angelic Friar"-is no surprise.

Angelico first explored this iconography in 1430 with the Annunciation of San Giovanni Valdarno, a piece named for the Tuscan town where it now resides. Rendered in tempera-an egg yolk-based paint popular among Medieval artists-this piece laid the groundwork for Fra Angelico's later Annunciations, which are characterized by the winged Gabriel on the left-hand side of the composition, the Virgin Mary on the right, and a detail-oriented emphasis on their surroundings, including figure-framing architecture and Adam and Eve-in the midst of their expulsion from the Garden of Eden-in the distance.

The Annunciation of Cortona (1433-1434)

Just one year after completing the Annunciation of San Giovanni Valdarno, Angelico started working on a second similar canvas. Known today as the Annunciation of Cortona, this tempera panel painting bears striking similarities to its predecessor. There are discernible differences, however, including a change in Gabriel's gesture (rather than crossing his arms over his heart, he now points one hand toward Mary and holds the other to his mouth), the addition of Corinthian columns, and a subtly increasing emphasis on the presence of Adam and Eve.

The Annunciation in Madrid (ca. 1435)

In 1435, Angelico completed his third Annunciation. In this rendition, Gabriel's arms return to his chest-an aesthetic choice that Angelico would retain when completing his final two Annunciation paintings. Unlike his other pieces, however, this version includes a beam of light that pierces the composition. Intended to represent the Holy Spirit, this diagonal ray draws the eye from Adam and Eve-who, in this painting, are at their largest-to the seated Virgin Mary.

The Annunciation in the Convent of San Marco (1440-1445)

In 1440, Fra Angelico transformed his painted vision into a fresco. Commissioned for the Convent of San Marco-a Dominican friary decorated entirely by Angelico-this piece remains the most famous of his Annunciation depictions. Ironically, however, with its naturalistic color palette, secular scenery, and a lack of Adam and Eve, it is also among his simplest-second only to another Annunciation fresco found in the chapel.

Situated in a corridor of sleeping cells, this piece breaks away from Angelico's other Annunciation paintings, as it is cleverly set in the convent itself.

The Legacy of the Annunciation

While Fra Angelico was far from the first artist to explore the Annunciation, his interpretations are among the enduring trend's most well-known-both in Renaissance art and beyond. In fact, it is this string of works that prompted Vasari, an important historian and contemporary of Angelico, to pinpoint and praise his "rare and perfect talent."

Additionally, Angelico's tireless dedication to this age-old subject matter inspired future artists to follow suit. For example, El Greco-a Spanish artist believed to be the " first great religious painter since Fra Angelico "-also revisited the subject numerous times throughout his life and career, driven by the pertinent belief that "you must study the Masters but guard the original style that beats within your soul."

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Fra Angelico and the Annunciation: How the Ethereal Event Inspired the Early Renaissance Artist

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Whether aiming to perfect a technique, master a subject, or simply explore an interest, artists often return to the same iconography over and over again. This approach has been taken by some of art history's most influential figures, with Fra Angelico -a religious painter of the Renaissance-at the forefront.

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Did you know that Vincent van Gogh 's artistic career lasted only a decade? This may be surprising, given the Dutch painter's prolific body of work; he completed at least 39 self-portraits alone. In addition to offering us a glimpse of the artist's appearance, these pieces trace the trajectory of his life, from his decision to pursue painting to his tragic battle with mental illness.

Here, we explore 5 of Van Gogh's most significant self-portraits. Though some are more well-known than others, each one illustrates a chapter of the artist's story, helping us piece together one of art history's most important narratives.

These self-portraits by Van Gogh mark some of the artist's most important milestones:

Artistic Emergence

Vincent van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, in Zundert, the Netherlands. Though his youth was fairly artistic (as a child, he would occasionally draw, and, by the age of 16, he was working as a clerk at Goupil & Cie, an international art dealer), he did not seriously pursue painting until he was 28 years old. With Dutch realist painter Anton Mauve as his mentor, he began producing "peasant paintings," a genre characterized by dark color schemes and unidealized subject matter.

This early aesthetic approach is apparent in Self-Portrait as a Painter, a portrayal that depicts Van Gogh holding a painter's palette and standing before an easel. Completed when he was 33 years old and living in Antwerp, this work is not only one of Van Gogh's earliest self-portraits; it is also the first time that he painted himself as an artist, marking an important rite of passage in the late-comer's career.

A Change of Style and Scenery

Van Gogh continued to paint in the style of Self-Portrait as a Painter until he came to an unfortunate realization: his "peasant paintings" simply were not selling. Even with the help of his brother, Theo, an esteemed art dealer, he was not able to find buyers. In order to appeal to the public, he decided to follow in the footsteps of other successful artists and move to Paris. During his time in the French capital, he developed a lighter palette and experimented with looser brushwork, as evident in Self-Portrait with Straw Hat.

Unfortunately, Van Gogh's more modern canvases still did not attract clients. After seeing little success, he decided that Paris was not the place for him. "It seems to me almost impossible to be able to work in Paris, unless you have a refuge in which to recover and regain your peace of mind and self-composure," he wrote to Theo a year after painting Self-Portrait with Straw Hat. "Without that, you'd be bound to get utterly numbed."

Life-Changing Relationship

Van Gogh decided to head south to Arles, a commune in the South of France. Here, he hoped to set up a shared "studio of the south" where he and other artists could live and work. In order to facilitate this dream, he rented several rooms in a block of flats he called the "Yellow House," and invited Paul Gauguin, his first recruit, to join him.

Gauguin moved into the Yellow House in the fall of 1888. Prior to his relocation, he and Van Gogh swapped self-portraits with one another: Gauguin gifted Van Gogh with Self-Portrait Dedicated to Vincent van Gogh, a piece inspired by Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, and, in return, Van Gogh sent Self-Portrait (dedicated to Paul Gauguin), a piece with a particularly eccentric back story.

"My portrait, which I am sending to Gauguin in exchange, holds its own, I am sure of that," Van Gogh wrote to Theo in October of 1888. "I have written to Gauguin in reply to his letter that if I might be allowed to stress my own personality in a portrait, I had done so in trying to convey in my portrait not only myself but an impressionist in general, had conceived it as the portrait of a bonze, a simple worshiper of the eternal Buddha."

Mental Decline

Shortly after this painting swap, Gauguin moved into the Yellow House. Immediately, however, the pair began to butt heads, prompting Gauguin to move out after just two months. When Gauguin broke the news to his housemate, Van Gogh-whose mental health was deteriorating-was so distraught that he cut off part of his own ear. The next morning, he was admitted to a hospital in Arles, where his self-inflicted injury was treated.

Upon returning to the Yellow House a few days later, he painted Self-Portrait With a Bandaged Ear. Arguably one of Van Gogh's most well-known works, this painting prominently features Van Gogh's thick, energetic brushwork, illustrates his interest in Japanese art, and, poignantly, presents the artist's covered wound.

While Van Gogh appeared to be relatively stable after the ordeal ("this over-excitement was only fleeting," his doctor, Félix Rey, assured Theo in a letter prior to Van Gogh's release), he recognized that his condition continued to worsen. In the spring of 1889, he voluntarily checked himself into a mental health facility in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, a nearby commune.

Tragic Psychosis

Van Gogh continued to paint while being treated. After converting an extra hospital room into an artist's studio, he completed 150 paintings, including The Starry Night, Vase with Irises, and his most tragic Self-Portrait.

Van Gogh created this recently authenticated painting while in the midst of a breakdown in late summer of 1889. Described by the artist as "an attempt from when I was ill," the self-portrait illustrates an important point in the final years of Van Gogh's life: a sense of self-acceptance. "He probably painted this portrait to reconcile himself with what he saw in the mirror: a person he did not wish to be, yet was," Louis van Tilborgh, the senior researcher at the Van Gogh Museum, says. "This is part of what makes the painting so remarkable and even therapeutic. It is the only work that Van Gogh is known for certain to have created while suffering from psychosis."

Less than a year after painting this self-portrait, Van Gogh was released from the hospital. He moved to Auvers-sur-Oise, a suburb of Paris, where he shot himself in a wheat field. Two days later, on July 29, 1890, he succumbed to his injuries. He was just 37 years old.

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Tracing Van Gogh's Life Through 5 of His Most Significant Self-Portraits

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Did you know that Vincent van Gogh 's artistic career lasted only a decade? This may be surprising, given the Dutch painter's prolific body of work; he completed at least 39 self-portraits alone. In addition to offering us a glimpse of the artist's appearance, these pieces trace the trajectory of his life, from his decision to pursue painting to his tragic battle with mental illness.

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Land artist Jon Foreman finds comfort in arranging stones in eye-pleasing formations on the beach. His practice, which he calls Sculpt the World, showcases rocks fashioned into swirling patterns as well as giant circles containing an array of rainbow-esque hues. "This process is therapy to me," Foreman tells My Modern Met. "The simple act of placing stone upon stone in the sand is very therapeutic. I'm sure we all enjoy a walk on the beach but this process I find to be more immersive; being there in nature, losing myself in the work, having left behind all the stresses of day to day life."

Foreman lives in Pembrokeshire, Wales, which is home to a generous coastline. "The beaches here are truly exceptional and there are so many," he explains, "I doubt I've even visited half of them." Upon his arrival at a beach, he plans to spend four hours there (on average) to create his work of art. Often, this is with only partial planning of what the finished piece will look like. "Sometimes I will have an idea of what I'd like to try but I very rarely draw it out fully. I quite like not knowing exactly how it will turn out until it's there in front of me." While many might find it intimidating to work without a plan, Foreman finds the unknown comforting. By having no preconceived notions of what he'll create, he finds that he's more likely to experiment and develop new facets of his work.

Arranging with stone has shown Foreman some of its unexpected qualities. He's noticed that rock, despite its solidity, changes when grouped together; they become "malleable," Foreman reveals. "There are so many ways of working with stone; the color, the size, the shape the angle it is placed, the direction it faces, endless possibilities. Although stone isn't my only material of choice, it is currently my favorite as it presents so many different opportunities."

Land art is ephemeral and will eventually be reclaimed by the earth from which it came. "It often becomes a race towards the end as the waves draw closer," Foreman says. "I try to stay to see the work get erased and capture the moment of impact." It could be a poignant time, but Foreman chooses to see the beauty in his work's short lifespan. "I create using material that is made from that environment for that environment. The tide washes it all back to the tide line, and I come back the next day with an empty canvas to work with. People often ask if it bothers me that the work has to disappear eventually. To that, I say: not at all. If anything the fact that it's short-lived makes it more special to me."

Land artist Jon Foreman creates ephemeral stone art on the shores of the UK.

My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Jon Foreman.

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Land Artist Surprises Beach Goers By Leaving Striking Stone Arrangements Along the Coast

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Land artist Jon Foreman finds comfort in arranging stones in eye-pleasing formations on the beach. His practice, which he calls Sculpt the World, showcases rocks fashioned into swirling patterns as well as giant circles containing an array of rainbow-esque hues. "This process is therapy to me," Foreman tells My Modern Met.

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In the 1920s, forward-thinking artists began looking to the glitz and grit of industry for inspiration. This fascination with new technologies was particularly prevalent in the United States, where artists adapted international movements driven by industrialization, like Art Deco and Mexican Muralism. In addition to these borrowed practices, however, some artists worked in a style that was all-American: Precisionism.

Though influenced by European sensibilities, Precisionism is indigenous to the United States. In fact, it is even credited as the country's first modernist movement-a role that underscores the importance of this underrated movement.

European Precursors

Precisionism marked the United States' first foray into a homegrown style of modernism. However, it was heavily shaped by two European movements: Cubism and Futurism.

Pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, Cubism made its debut in 1907. This style is characterized by deconstructed, fractured compositions that allow singular subjects to be seen from multiple angles simultaneously. Precisionists adapted this simplified approach to form. Rather than fracturing their compositions, however, they appropriated Cubism's skewed perspectives, sharp angles, and abstracted forms.

Futurism emerged in Italy in the early 20th century. Led by art theorist Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Futurists strived to capture speed, dynamism, and movement in their work. To achieve this, Futurist artists often looked to modern technology for artistic inspiration-a move that paved the way for the like-minded Precisionists.

Different Approaches to Precisionism

By 1920, both Cubism and Futurism were well-established around the world. Though the movements were no longer at their peaks, the Precisionists-a title coined by Alfred H. Barr Jr., MoMA's first director, in 1927-quickly kickstarted their legacy.

While these artists-including Charles Sheeler, Charles Demuth, Georgia O'Keeffe, Stuart Davis, and other avant-garde American figures-never formally banded together, they crafted an unofficial movement driven by a shared interest in industrial iconography and a style concerned with "precise" lines and forms.

Towering skyscrapers, urban factories, and modern machinery are among the industrial concepts explored by the Precisionists. Often, these subjects were abstracted, culminating in simplified compositions rendered in minimal detail and geometric forms.

I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold by Charles Demuth, for example, depicts a firetruck speeding through the streets as a cluster of red shapes and converging parallel lines overlaid with a series of sleek, gold numbers.

Some Precisionist artists, however, deviated from this aesthetic to produce more straightforward representations of their industrial subjects. Charles Sheeler often worked in this style, as evident in Conversation-Sky and Earth, a realistic depiction of the Hoover Dam. Painted from a photograph, this piece demonstrates Sheeler's attention to crisp detail and his ability to transform seemingly mundane objects into transcendent subjects worth painting-and even worshipping.

"Every age manifests itself by some external evidence," he explained. "In a period such as ours when only a comparatively few individuals seem to be given to religion, some form other than the Gothic cathedral must be found. Industry concerns the greatest numbers-it may be true, as has been said, that our factories are our substitute for religious expression."

This artistic approach was heavily influenced by contemporary photography-namely the groundbreaking work of Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe's husband, and Paul Strand, who helped elevate documentary-style photography to an art form. Specifically, the artists found inspiration in Stieglitz's expert use of cropping and Strand's approach to choosing subject matter. "The artist's world is limitless," he said. "It can be found anywhere, far from where he lives or a few feet away. It is always on his doorstep."

Legacy

Precisionism remained popular until the 1940s, when the realities of World War II forced the American public to consider the downsides of technology. While Demuth, Sheeler, and a few other artists retained the Precisionist mindset for the bulk of their careers, others, like Georgia O'Keeffe, adapted their approach and adopted new subject matter.

Although Precisionism's popularity fizzled, its influence can be found in succeeding movements. With a focus on accessibility, Pop art championed Precisionism's interest in everyday scenery; Abstract Expressionism built upon its simplified approach to subject matter; and Minimalism took the movement's focus on industry literally, culminating in works crafted from concrete and steel.

Though Precisionism is largely overshadowed by these movements, their very existence proves its importance-and, ultimately, keep its legacy alive.

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Precisionism: The Modern American Style Sparked by Industrialization

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In the 1920s, forward-thinking artists began looking to the glitz and grit of industry for inspiration. This fascination with new technologies was particularly prevalent in the United States, where artists adapted international movements driven by industrialization, like Art Deco and Mexican Muralism.

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For centuries, African American artists have helped shape the visual culture of the United States. Often channeling their familial backgrounds and personal experiences in their work, these creative figures have influenced and inspired much of American art's evolution.

Unfortunately, throughout history-both in the United States and beyond-artists of color have not aptly been recognized for their talents, achievements, and contributions. This has culminated in a popular history of art paved mostly by white artists. Fortunately, however, contemporary audiences are becoming increasingly interested in diversity in the arts, prompting museums, libraries, and other cultural institutions to shine an overdue spotlight on the work of African American artists.

Here are 14 famous African American artists that any art lover should know.

Joshua Johnson was a portrait painter living and working in 18th and 19th-century Baltimore. While little is known about his background (there are conflicting reports regarding whether or not he was enslaved), over 100 portraits are attributed to the artist. All of these pieces are rendered in a characteristically naive style and most share a distinctive composition: a sitter positioned in a three-quarter view, against a plain backdrop, and among props ranging from fruit and flowers to parasols and riding crops.

Today, Johnson is celebrated as the earliest known African American who worked professionally as an artist, forging a path for numerous creatives to come.

Sculptor Edmonia Lewis has the distinction of being the first African American and Native American artist to rise to national and international prominence. Born free in Upstate New York, Lewis began her career as a sculptor in Boston. Early success funded a trip to Rome, Italy, where she spent most of her career. Her Neoclassical sculpture often touched on themes related to her African American and Native American heritage. She was so respected that she was invited to produce a piece for the 1876 Centennial Exposition and President Ulysses S. Grant commissioned a portrait bust from her. Though her popularity dwindled as interest in Neoclassical art waned, her legacy as a trailblazer never faded.

After being rejected by many art schools due to his race, Henry Ossawa Tanner enrolled in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1879. This made him the Academy's only African American student. While there, he studied under Thomas Eakins and was influenced by his progressive approach to art. Ossawa Turner later moved to France, where he was embraced by French artistic circles and saw his art accepted into the Salon for several years.

He used his realistic style, modeled after Eakins, to tackle many subjects, from landscapes and religious subjects to moments of daily life. One of his most well-known works, The Banjo Lesson, shows the interaction between an elderly Black man teaching a child-presumed to be his grandson-how to play the banjo. His use of expressive brushstrokes, attention to color, and placement of light and shadow helped distinguish his artistry.

Self-taught painter Horace Pippin once said that his time served in WWI "brought out all the art in me." In fact, he took up art to rehabilitate his arm after being shot in battle. In the 1930s, he began painting on stretched fabric and often revisited themes related to the war. As his career continued, he painted landscapes, as well as political and biblical themes. His work often touched on themes revolving around slavery and racial discrimination.

In 1947, he became the first African American artist to be the subject of a monograph. Today, his paintings can be found in private and public collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Barnes Foundation, and the Phillips Collection.

In 1918, a groundbreaking movement emerged in New York City. Known today as the Harlem Renaissance, this "golden age" of art, literature, and music transformed the Harlem neighborhood into a cultural hub for African Americans, with Augusta Savage's many contributions at its core.

Savage was a Florida-born sculptor. In 1921, she moved to New York City, where she attended The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, a scholarship-based school. After earning her degree (an entire year early), she was asked by the Harlem Library to create a bust of civil rights activist and writer W. E. B. Du Bois-a piece that put her on the map.

Today, Savage's role in the Renaissance is mostly attached to teaching and advocacy. In 1935, she co-founded the Harlem Artists Guild, an organization that advised the neighborhood's African American artists; and, in 1937, she established the Harlem Community Art Center, where she led sculpting classes and helped launch the careers of African American artists, including Jacob Lawrence.

Born in 1911, Romare Bearden was a prolific creative who was not only a visual artist but also an author and songwriter. Throughout his long career, he experimented with different mediums, including oil paint and collage. His early work was influenced by Mexican muralists like Diego Rivera, while he later evolved into a more abstract style. In the 1960s, he started working with collages and focused his work on themes regarding cooperation and unity within the African American community.

After passing from complications with bone cancer in 1988, The New York Times called Bearden "one of America's pre-eminent artists."

Jacob Lawrence was born in New Jersey in 1918. At just 23 years old, he completed his . This colorful collection of paintings tells the story of the Great Migration, a mass exodus of over 6 million African Americans fleeing the segregated South to urbanized areas across the country.

Imagined as avant-garde shapes and rendered in bright tones, this work is celebrated as much for its subject matter as its Harlem-inspired aesthetic. "Lawrence's work is a landmark in the history of modern art and a key example of the way that history painting was radically reimagined in the modern era," the Museum of Modern Art explains.

After the success of this 60-panel series, Lawrence continued to artistically document the African American experience in a number of projects. He also taught at several universities and received numerous accolades and awards. In 1941, for example, he became the first African American artist to have work featured in the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection, and in 1990, he received the U.S. National Medal of Arts.

Born in Topeka, Kansas, in 1899, Aaron Douglas worked in a glass factory and steel foundry in order to earn money for college. After graduating in 1922 with his degree in fine arts, he taught in the Kansas City, Missouri area before heeding the call of Johnson to head to New York City to be part of the creative scene in Harlem.

Once in New York, Douglas studied painting with German émigré artist Fritz Winold Reiss. He began to study African art as a source of cultural identity while using what he learned about European modernism to create his own visual language. His illustration and murals were centered around social issues-including race and segregation in the U.S.-presented in an abstract, Cubist-deco style featuring semitransparent silhouetted figures that recalled African art.

After spending time in New York and Paris, Douglas accepted a full-time position in the art department at Fisk University in Nashville in 1944 and was there until he retired from teaching in 1966.

Alma Thomas spent her whole life breaking new ground. When she graduated from Howard University in 1924, she became the first graduate of the school's new fine arts department. She then spent the next 35 years at Washington, D.C.'s Shaw Junior High School as an art teacher, where she helped shape young minds.

Many people would be satisfied with that achievement, but Thomas was not yet done. She had been continually enriching her own mind and continuing her education, working in styles that shifted from figurative realism to abstract expressionism. It was only when she retired at age 69 that she dedicated herself to her own art full-time.

Her career bloomed, and she became known for her colorful, abstract artworks. In 1972, when she was 81 years old, she became the first African American woman to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Up until her death in 1978, Thomas continued to create and to be recognized for her artistic achievements.

New York City would continue to serve as a catalyst for Black artists for decades, with Jean-Michel Basquiat among the Big Apple's most famous artists-and contemporary art's most universally recognized figures.

Basquiat was born in Brooklyn to a Puerto Rican mother and a Haitian father in 1960. As a teenager, he helped pioneer and popularize street art, first with SAMO©, a tag serving as shorthand for "the same old sh-t," and eventually with his distinctive "chicken-scratch" designs. As a young adult, he brought graffiti into the gallery, first in exclusive group shows and eventually as a sought-after solo artist.

Though he tragically died at just 27 years old, Basquiat's decade-long career led to a prodigious legacy. Today, he remains both a celebrated creative and a cultural icon, recognized for his approach to themes like slavery and oppression. His works can be found in top museums and galleries around the globe, and they sell for tens of millions of dollars at auction.

Kerry James Marshall has been called one of today's most successful figurative painters. His powerful paintings speak to the Black experience. One of his most famous paintings, 1993's The Lost Boys was influenced by his own childhood in South Central Los Angeles. Steeped in Black culture, his artwork often challenges stereotypes and gives voice to Black popular culture. His large-scale paintings, sculptures, and installations are groundbreaking and particularly influential to a new generation of African American artists. Marshall is also a skilled teacher, having taught painting at the University of Illinois at Chicago for over a decade. His work is found in important public collections like the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., The Broad in Los Angeles, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Like Lawrence and Basquiat, Kara Walker, a California-born artist, explores issues of race in her work. Rather than opt for a bright color palette, however, Walker often works in monochrome, whether crafting a faux-stone fountain, a sugar sphynx, or, most prominently, her signature silhouettes.

Walker began creating silhouettes in 1994. Since then, she has continued to use these large-scale vignettes to creatively address the prevailing history of racism in the United States. Often, she imagines scenes set in the Antebellum South-a fitting focal point considering the roots of the cut-paper craft. "I had a catharsis looking at early American varieties of silhouette cuttings," she said. "What I recognize, besides narrative and historicity and racism, was very physical displacement: the paradox of removing a form from a blank surface that in turn creates a black hole."

In addition to silhouette-making, Walker also dabbles in other mediums, creating everything from paintings and animated works to shadow puppets and "magic-lantern" projections.

In 2017, Nigerian American portrait painter Kehinde Wiley made history when he became the first Black artist to paint an official presidential portrait. Selected by President Barack Obama himself, Wiley was commissioned to complete the painting for the National Portrait Gallery, whose collection of presidential portraits is among its most important holdings.

Since this major project, Wiley has continued to reimagine traditional portraiture. He even challenged the expectations of equestrian painting with Rumors of War, a monumental sculpture that offers a contemporary response to confederate statues. With this piece, Wiley rethinks the concept of a "hero"-and of American identity.

"Today," he said during the sculpture's unveiling in Times Square, "we say yes to something that looks like us. We say yes to inclusivity. We say yes to broader notions of what it means to be an American."

Brooklyn-based artist Bisa Butler creates contemporary quilts that are life-sized historical portraits of Black people whose stories may have been forgotten or completely overlooked in history. Each colorful picture utilizes fabric like a painter would pigment to produce regal representations of each person.

Butler learned how to sew by watching her mother and grandmother. When she first began creating her quilt art, she depicted her family. Now, she scours public databases for photographs that inspire her.

"My community has been marginalized for hundreds of years," she writes in her artist statement. "While we have been right beside our white counterparts experiencing and creating history, our contributions and perspectives have been ignored, unrecorded, and lost. It is only a few years ago that it was acknowledged that the White House was built by slaves. Right there in the seat of power of our country African Americans were creating and contributing while their names were lost to history.

"My subjects are African Americans from ordinary walks of life who may have sat for a formal family portrait or may have been documented by a passing photographer," Butler explains. "Like the builders of the White House, they have no names or captions to tell us who they were."
Hear Bisa speak about her work in-depth on the My Modern Met Top Artist podcast.
This article has been edited and updated.

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14 Groundbreaking African American Artists Who Shaped History

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For centuries, African American artists have helped shape the visual culture of the United States. Often channeling their familial backgrounds and personal experiences in their work, these creative figures have influenced and inspired much of American art's evolution. Unfortunately, throughout history-both in the United States and beyond-artists of color have not aptly been recognized for their talents, achievements, and contributions.