Art In History Art Blog
Peter Barnett
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My Favorite Artists - Goya
by art_in_history , April 25, 2013—12:00 AM
I'm going to go back 100 years or so to an artist I passed over: Goya. In the spectrum of artists from those of structure to those of feeling, Goya is definitely the latter. But what is remarkable is the way he anticipated the romantics and 20th century expressionists, working at the height of the Enlightenment.
The Enlightment thinkers of the 18th century believed in the ultimate and inevitable perfectability of man through reason. They largely ignored the existence and power of the bestial side of man, a fatal mistake. The Greeks were wiser: thouogh they elevated reason as man's great gift, they never forgat the other side of his nature. Their image was of the horse and rider - today the Id and Ego - and understood the need to respect and control the bestial side…
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My Favorite Artists - Van Gogh
by art_in_history , February 27, 2013—12:00 AM
My most recent post in this series was on Claude Monet, who so completely redefined the artistic enterprise that he set a new benchmark against which future artists had to define themselves. By limiting his focus to the facts of perception he created an unusually direct interaction between the artist and the visual world, but in doing so he effectively excluded the interests of most artists preceeding him, whether "classical" or "romantic".
There was, predictably, an almost immediate attempt to blend his new vision with the traditional concerns of artists. I have already discussed Cezanne, who in this context must be seen as a "classicist": concerned with the structure and order behind our perceptual world, what we KNOW as opposed to what we SEE…
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My Favorite Artists - Monet
by art_in_history , January 28, 2013—12:00 AM
I turn now from Degas and Manet to Claude Monet - THE Impressionist. This is another of those artists, like Leonardo, whom I would not really call a "favorite", but whom I recognize as a towering figure in the development of artistic vision in his time. I respond more to the works of Degas and Manet. But as with Leonardo, no artist in the period following Monet could work without coming to terms with his redefinition of painting. You could follow him or reject him, but you had to deal with the terms which he had established.
Monet redefined painting on several levels: the enterprise, artistic vision, palette and technique. First, he finally stated that the work done directly on the scene was an end in itself…
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My Favorite Artists - Manet
by art_in_history , November 4, 2012—12:00 AM
I am turning from Degas to Manet, the other "older" Impressionist, though - unlike Degas - he never accepted the term as applied to his work. Like Degas, he had a strong traditional background in form and composition which he used to great advantage. Paradoxically, Manet is in many ways the most radical of the group, certainly the most confrontational.
It is fascinating to compare Manet to Courbet, the great revolutionary of the previous generation. It was Courbet who broke with the Academie, setting up his own competing exhibition, thus blazing the trail which the Impressionists then followed. But while Courbet's revolution was all about class warfare and social justice, Manet's is all about art itself. Manet uses confrontation to force the viewer to look at art in a new way…
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My Favorite Artists - Degas
by art_in_history , October 5, 2012—12:00 AM
I'm coming back around to where I started, which was with Cezanne...and more generally with late 19th century European painting. I find more to excite me in that period than in any other.
As I think about the Impressionists, and the generations that followed, I definitely learn something about myself and what satisfies my artistic soul. I like structure. I am more excited by Degas and Manet, the two artists who had an "academic" training, than I am by most of Monet, and I like Monet better than Renoir. I can feel the lightness and joy of Renoir's work, its wonderful softness, but ultimately it leaves me wanting more.
In Degas' work, the feeling of carelessness in framing belies the artfulness behind it…
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My Favorite Artists - Chardin
by art_in_history , September 5, 2012—12:00 AM
I seem to be moving from artist to artist in a natural progression, and I will continue that with this post. I looked last at Dutch 17th century work, including still life, with its strong sense of organization and selection, and most recently at Vermeer, where every element in the frame is meaningful and carefully chosen. That leads me naturally to the 18th century Still Life master, Chardin.
Chardin seems to me to have the same sense of careful selection and organization, with another element which makes him special: being "of the earth". His still lives seem to grow out of the earth and to be made of the same substance. The compositions are always rock solid and immovable, seemingly built on a slab of living rock…
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My Favorite Artists - Vermeer
by art_in_history , July 22, 2012—12:00 AM
Having written about the "Little Dutch Masters", it is a natural step to move on to Vermeer. He was certainly one of their number - in fact, if you were to judge by the dimensions of his works he could be the littlest of them all - but he is also too great to be lumped among them. He also had a primary specialty - light filled interiors with figures - but also produced exquisite works in other genres, like the "Street in Delft" above. All with a sensitivity to ambient light never equalled before or since.
He is, of course, the center of a huge controversy, because of the strong evidence that he used a camera obscura to view his subjects and perhaps to project them on the surface…
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My Favorite Artists - the Little Dutch Masters
by art_in_history , June 27, 2012—12:00 AM
Hey, I've got a new computer and I'm back in business.
I'm going to continue the theme of my last post: artists who may not be great, but who are wonderful in their more modest endeavors. This time I am going to consider a group: the Dutch 17th century painters who have come to be known as "the little Dutch Masters".
The environment for painters in Holland in the 17th century was unique, and it led to a new and "modern" way of conducting business. For the first time in European art, the creation of paintings was not dominated by the church and the nobility. Instead, art was purchased in quantity by the rising mercantile class, and they were looking for art that expressed their wealth to be sure, but also reflected underlying Calvinist values…
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My Favorite Artists - Constable
by art_in_history , June 1, 2012—12:00 AM
On to Constable, my kindred spirit. Perhaps not as great in the fullest sense as Cezanne or Rembrandt, but wonderful in his sensitivity to the familiar in nature. He never left England, and did not travel very widely there, going only to Brighton, Weymoutn or Salisbury, within easy reach. How different his subjects are from those of his contemporary Turner, who always sought out the magical transforming moments in nature: sunrise, sunset, monumental storms. Constable made his art from that which was most familiar in his surroundings, seeing it with a sensitivity which was unmatched until the next generation.
Yes, he did break new ground, despite his unambitious enterprise…
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My Favorite Artists - Turner
by art_in_history , May 10, 2012—12:00 AM
I have been picking out artists who are my favorites, and who also deserve to be called great because of the nature of their enterprise. Many of my favorite artists are not "great" in this sense; they are modest and unassuming in their scope and intentions. A good example is the artist with whom I feel the greatest natural affinity: John Constable. But before turning to Constable, I thought I should give homage to his truly great English contemporary, William Turner.
It is hard to like Turner as a human being; he was rather a nasty man, secretive, suspicious, paranoid…
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My Favorite Artists - Leonardo da Vinci
by art_in_history , April 18, 2012—12:00 AM
The decision to include Leonardo is not based on the impact of the work on me viscerally and emotionally; in fact, on one level you could say he is not a "favorite" artist at all. It is more that I stand in awe of what he accomplished as an artist, while so much of his energies and imagination were focussed on other things. And of course, after a piece on Michelangelo, it is only proper to give Leonardo equal time.
Michelangelo and Leonardo were the towering figures of the Renaissance until the younger Raphael rose to join them, great rivals, driving each other to greater heights…
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My Favorite Artists - Michelangelo
by art_in_history , March 29, 2012—12:00 AM
In each of the previous posts I have asked the question "What challenge did this artist set himself that sets his work beyond good to great?". Not all my favorite artists have such an ambitious enterprise, but I will show one more; Michelangelo. For me, the remarkable thing about his work is how often he rose above crippling external limitations and turned them into glorious oportunities.
The "David" is an excellent example, especially if we accept the story about its creation. According to contemporary sources, a truley magnificent block of Carrara marble, intended for another sculptor, was tragically damaged in transit, with a chunk broken off in the middle almost to the center of the block…
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My Favorite Artists - Paul Klee
by art_in_history , March 14, 2012—12:00 AM
This will be the third in my series of favorite artists, and I am still following the theme of the major challenge in an artist's enterprise which raises the work from good to great. In this case, however, it is a quiet artist working on a modest scale without earthshaking impact.
Klee's work is nothing if not unpretentious and personal. There is no sense that he was speaking to a wider audience than the one which would seek him out in his artistc seclusion. So why do I put him in a category with someone like Rembrandt?
For me, Klee's work is a marvellous marriage of the analytical and the intuitive…
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Favorite Artists: Rembrandt
by art_in_history , February 29, 2012—12:00 AM
This is the second in my new series of my favorite artists, and what it is in their artistic enterprise that sets them above the merely very good. After having started with a self-portrait by Cezanne in my last post, I can't resist starting this post off with another self-portrait, one of many by Rembrandt.
How different they are! The Cezanne self-portrait, though it can captivate you as a work of art for hours, in the end shows you almost nothing about the man beyond his physical exterior. Cezanne clearly was not trying to explore his inner self at all. The Rembrandt, on the other hand, shows you infintely more than a thousand words could tell you about his soul, his humanity, and most importantly our humanity. Just look into his eyes, and get lost in them…
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My Favorite Artists - Cezanne
by art_in_history , February 15, 2012—12:00 AM
The other day I was in for treatment at my chiropractor, and he asked me if I had seen "that guy who paints on TV" and what I thought of him. I said I had, that he had mastered the skills of his craft, and had developed visual ideoms for natural elements which were now second nature to him. Then, in an effort to explain why that did not make him a great artist, I told him about Cezanne. Later, I decided that might make a good series of posts to do: artists whose chosen enterprise was such that the challenge of it elevated them way above the norm.
I told my chiropractor that Cezanne, far from whipping off images that he could do in his sleep, set himself a goal that is arguably the most challenging ever set by an artist…
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Seminal Moments: The Annunciation of the Renaissance
by art_in_history , February 24, 2011—12:00 AM
This is the first in a series of posts on seminal moments in the history of western art. The flowering of the Renaissance in Italy was certainly one of these moments. One way to see its emergence is through changes in the handling of the annunciation theme.
Two of the primary impulses that define the Renaissance in Italy are the triumph of Humanism and the mastery of the depiction of real space. The first emerged in the late medieval period, with the rise of the cult of the virgin. The change in emphasis from the depiction of a forbidding Christ to the depiction of Mary is by definition humanist; Mary is human, approachable, sharing her nature and feelings with all of us. Thus, the rise of the annunciation theme is in itself a humanist trend…
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The Case Against White Walls
by art_in_history , August 3, 2010—12:00 AM
This is a photo of my most recent work, "Evening Glow", leaning against my hearth. When I paint in my home studio, this is where paintings in progress are placed for study, to determine final touches. It is also one of the places where my work looks the best.
I have become ever more convinced of what I have known for a long time: my work is not at its best when shown on a white wall. I think this is true of any painting which is seeking to create an illusion, at least one based on effects of light. A white wall diminishes the impact and the magic of the work.
Why? What's wrong with a background of white? It is color neutral, allowing the colors of the work to take on their true character and relationships…
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What's the Best Time to Die?
by art_in_history , December 1, 2009—12:00 AM
Artists all seem to have a common fantasy: that fame and riches will come to them posthumously. We may not really believe it, but it is a well entrenched part of artistic mythology. We could call it the Van Gogh Factor. This raises another interesting question: if our death is the first day of the rest of our artistic lives, what's the best time to die?
There is abundant evidence that dying young may be a great career move; there is a similar wealth of examples proving that we should live to a ripe old age. Artists who die young may leave a vibrant and untarnished legacy; on the other hand there are many artists who reach new heights in maturity…
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My Best Buddy and Me
by art_in_history , October 29, 2009—12:00 AM
I recently had a wonderful experience as a volunteer participant in Best Buddies "Artistic Abilities" program. I went in wanting to donate my time to this very worthy organization; I came away with much more than I contributed.
"Artistic Abilities" is a fundraising event for Best Buddies , an organization which works with intellectually challenged young people. Artists are paired with a buddy and collaborate to produce a work or works of art together. The main event will be held on Thursday November 5 at CityStage in Springfield MA, and will include an auction of the donated works…
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The Medium OR the Message
by art_in_history , September 10, 2009—12:00 AM
I was a young man - a young artist - when Marshall McLuhan came out with his seminal statement: "The medium is the message". The idea had tremendous power, since it seemed to sum up a century of change in attitudes toward the art object (visual, auditory, written) and its purpose. The work of art was its own reason for being; it did not have to serve any outside purpose.
For me this is not only an exciting idea, it is a justification for what I secretly often feel is a failing of mine: my work isn't serving a higher purpose that I can define. Which means that, deep down, I don't fully accept that my work has no need to "teach" or "advocate". There is this suspiciaon that the work that deserves the most respect is the one with a higher purpose…
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Invitation and Exclusion in Landscape
by art_in_history , August 24, 2009—12:00 AM
A few years ago I did a small piece under this same title, comparing two landscape paintings which treated the viewer very differently, one inviting him in, the second deliberately blocking his way. As a follow up to my recent posts on landscape painting, I thought that I should say more on this topic, which involves many of the most powerful tools available to the landscape painter.
The most compelling aspect of a landscape painting is its ability to draw the viewer into its world. We will see later that the choice to exclude the viewer is powerful precisely because it frustrates this natural impulse to enter and explore.
The "Cornfield" by Constable is a beautiful example of the magic of invitation, and of many of the most common devices by which it is nurtured…
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Art for Art's Sake
by art_in_history , July 13, 2009—12:00 AM
In my last post, I promised to put out some additional posts on the major trends which led up to the phenomenon of Modern Art. One of these was a new way of looking at paintings, one which isolated the aesthetic qualities of the work and appreciated them independent of the subject matter.
In 2000 I did an article called "The Aesthetic Attitude" in which I looked at this phenomenon, and I will include a big chunk of that post here:
[QUOTE]One of the most fascinating of the developments that occurred during the 18th century was the recognition of an independent aesthetic attitude toward art, and indeed toward the world. Of course, this is not the first appearance of such an attitude in mankind's artistic history; far from it…
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Pastoral and Sublime: The Two Faces of Romantic Landscape
by art_in_history , May 28, 2009—12:00 AM
Over the course of the 18th century there was a remarkable change in attitudes toward nature, discoverable in all the arts, especially literature, painting and landscape architecture. It culminated in the Romantic landscape tradition in Europe and America in the 19th century, the golden age of landscape painting. It marked a major change in the relationship of man to nature.
Romantic landscape covers the gamut between the Pastoral - inhabited landscape: comfortable and relatively tame, with shepherds and peasants - and the Sublime - wild nature: vast and powerful, inspiring terror and awe. The Pastoral was not a sea change in attitude…
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Good Bones and Great Heads for Portraits
by art_in_history , May 13, 2009—12:00 AM
Since my post a few months ago about the Portrait Attitude, I have felt there was more to say about my interest in portraiture. I began as a portrait artist, well before I developed my interest in landscape, and it still holds a special place for me. While I am always interested in commissions, and am happy to work from photographs on commission, my major interest is in asking Great Heads to sit for me, wherever I find them. It can even overcome my shyness and cause me to accost a stranger!
For me, though there are many things that can attract me to a head, great heads primarily means good bones. The head that will make me itch to paint it has visible structure, dramatic changes of plane: a strong jaw, pronouced cheekbones, sculpted eye sockets…
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Painting as Theater
by art_in_history , May 1, 2009—12:00 AM
The rich interaction between painting and theater is something I have touched on in an earlier post on David and the French Revolution, and I will end by looking into that extraordinary moment of symbiosis at the end of this post. However, another moment of rich interaction occurred in the Italian Renaissance, and it is difficult to claim that either art form was taking the lead.
The lead image, Botticelli's "Story of Lucretia", may be a surprise to those who know his "Birth of Venus" and "Primavera". However, this is one of many works in which he essentially paints an elaborate stage setting and fills it with dramatic action. There is little question that the elaborate architectural frame with its described deep space reflects the stage design of the time…
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In Praise of Imperfection
by art_in_history , April 13, 2009—12:00 AM
This post is in some ways a response to Gary's post on Raphael's "Descent from the Cross". I agree that Raphael represents a perfect moment in the High Renaissance: fully realized, harmonious and sublime. I then had to ask myself why, of the great masters of his time, he is the least interesting to me. I decided the answer lay in the limitations of perfection itself.
"In praise of Imperfection" is a bit misleading; this post is more in praise of striving, of asking the questions instead of finding the final answer. For the Renaissance, the primary questions were those raised by Humanism, both in the arts and in thought in general (Gallileo, Copernicus, and of course Leonardo)…
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When the Muse Wanes
by art_in_history , March 24, 2009—12:00 AM
What is the better part of valor when the muses snooze? Is it better to set yourself a goal to work every day, or to allow yourself to lie fallow? Is it the discipline of work which breaks you through to the next level, or is your muse trying to tell you to allow for a period of gestation?
I think the right answer is the one that fits your particular creative style. I am pretty much a feast or famine painter: when I am productive I can be very productive, but I often need to follow these periods with a period of waiting for the gestation of the seeds of whatever is next…
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"Significant" Art: What does it Signify?
by art_in_history , March 11, 2009—12:00 AM
Coming from a background in Art History, I have a number of readymade ways to beat myself over the head about my painting. One is the concept that to be given serious respect a work should be "significant". By this the art historian means that it advances the march of style through its innovations, or expresses its time with particular clarity and depth. It is the work of a leader, not a follower.
A few years ago Amherst college, my Alma Mater, had a show of art by alumni for which I was not approached. I have no idea if my name ever surfaced at all, or how selection was done, but I think it is perfectly likely that my work would not be considered "significant" enough to merit inclusion…
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Courbet and the Third French Revolution
by art_in_history , March 4, 2009—12:00 AM
I'm getting into this idea of successive "French Revolutions"; it's a bit too neat, but it reveals some interesting patterns. The first (David) was primarily a social/political revolution, with Neo-classicism as the engine. The second (Delacroix) was primarily artistic, a reaction against the strictures of Neo-classicism, though it clearly had its social side as well. With Courbet we will see again a primarily social/political revolution, that took Realism as its engine. The fourth would be Manet, whom I've already discussed, and his revolution once again is in the realm of art.
The lead image is Courbet's "manifesto", titled "The Studio: a Real Allegory"…
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Plein Aire Tips from Boca
by art_in_history , February 4, 2009—12:00 AM
It has been a chunk since I did a post in my series on plein aire tips. However, I got some tips myself in my recent week at Casa del los Artistas in Boca de Tomatlan. For more on this week, see my personal post under Peter Barnett. It was a plein aire workshop, and I came away with three tips that will add flexibility to my repertoire.
The first had to do with Sumo Brush painting on the go. Bob Masla had me experiment with a special travel brush and "ink pencil". I drew first with the pencil, much as I would with a soft graphite pencil, but doing only cursory shading. I then used a brush with a hollow plastic handle with a self-contained water supply, much like a dish sponge with its own supply of soapy water…
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The French Revolution in Art
by art_in_history , January 7, 2009—12:00 AM
In his comment on my post about Rubens, Zander reminded me of his influence on Delacroix, and I decided I should take him up next. Then I realized that before looking at his work, I should set the scene with the generation that preceeded him. Because the fact is, no matter how interesting the work of any one artist at this period may be, the art scene in France as a whole is much more fascinating.
I am leading off with the "Oath of the Horatii" by Jacques-Louis David, the "painter of the revolution". Since the work seems "mainstream" and "old-fashioned" to our eyes, it takes a huge effort of empathy to understand what it meant at the time: it was a bombshell!
First we need to realize that the classicism we see in the David was long gone in French art…
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My Favorite Artists - Rubens
by art_in_history , December 29, 2008—12:00 AM
I have been working through the great artists of the European Baroque, and I will be ending with Rubens. The reasons are hot and cold. Cold because Rubens does not appeal to me personally as much as Rembrandt or Velzaquez, or even the little Dutch Masters, though I am always in awe of his work. Hot because, of all the artists of the period, it is probably Rubens who most perfectly represents the age. Following the Renaissance age of invention, the Baroque was an age of utter mastery, taking the discoveries of the Renaissance to their supreme conclusion. And pershaps thearchtypal example of Baroque mastery is command of the human figure.
The Baroque period displayed mastery of the human figure in its most violent action and aggressive foreshortening…
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My Favorite Artists - Caravaggio
by art_in_history , October 30, 2008—12:00 AM
In my piece on Monet I said that, while he was not as resonant for me as Manet or Cezanne, he was an artist whose inventions were so powerful that all later European artists had to react in some way to their implications. I realize that I have left behind another artist about whom the same can be said: Caravaggio. Coming at a time when the schism in the Christian church was dominating the European political and social scene, and when the implications of Renaissance naturalism were opening new avenues of artistic exploration, Caravaggio, in is short career, was a towering force.
Caravaggio had three great inventions. The first was to abandon the idealizing classicism of the Italian Renaissance in favor of an uncompromising realism…
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Isabella's Personal Museum
by art_in_history , September 12, 2008—12:00 AM
Photos courtesy of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum website.
I am writing today to talk about one of my all time favorite museums: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. I am also writing in defense of the personal museum, as contrasted to the "scientific" museum which has been the model for the last 100 years. For me, the richness of the total experience in a personal museum outweighs the disadvantage of not seeing all works in a neutral setting and perfect light.
The Gardner museum is a recreated Venetian Renaissance palace, built by Isabella to evoke the Barberi Palace in Venice, which she leased for her trips there, and designed to display her personal collection of art…
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Dearth of a Salesman
by art_in_history , March 2, 2008—12:00 AM
This post is about Art and Marketing, but it is NOT going to tell you how to market your work. Because...you wouldn't want to learn that from me.
They say any artist serious about making a living at their art should spend half of their time on marketing, on getting their work out in front of a public. This is probably very good advice, but I don't follow it. This may well have cost me in my art business, but it also makes a great excuse for why I haven't been "discovered".
There are artists I know for whom PR comes naturally, and I envy them their pleasure in it. I suspect that the vast majority are more like me. I have never felt comfortable with the sales end of art, and have basically decided I will go as far and as fast as serendipity can take me…
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Women In Art, A YouTube Challenge
by art_in_history , June 4, 2007—12:00 AM
This article is inspired by a video recently posted on Youtube, which I found fascinating as an artist, as an art historian, and as a sometime computer programmer. Created by eggman913, who also has made another video called "Picasso", Women In Art is its own masterpiece. Watch the video and then come back to read my comments. Click here to watch the video . (Be patient, it does take several seconds to load.) …
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What IS That Thing?
by art_in_history , December 3, 2000—12:00 AM
What is that thing?
What you see is a detail from a well-known work of art. Can you figure out which? If you can identify the work by Artist and Title, your entry will be added to the pool of entries eligible for a FREE one year silver membership to ArtId! Each month a winner will be drawn from the pool of correct entries. !IMAGE328 !
To submit your entry, send an Email to Peter@ArtId.com . Please include your name, address and phone number, and a little about yourself!
NOTE! Do NOT make your entry as a comment! Everybody else will be able to read it.…
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The Rembrandt or the Cat?
by art_in_history , July 8, 2000—12:00 AM