mixedmedia's Art Appreciation Thread...NSFW, but in a beautiful way

[mixedmedia]

*Note*
This page takes forever to load, but it's worth the wait. You might want to pop open another window or tab and browse some other threads while you wait. At least, that's what I do, lol.


Hello.
Welcome to my art appreciation thread.

I am starting this thread, perhaps for my own amusement, but in the hopes that other people will step forward to post images and talk about their favorite artists.

I believe art to be a concept without borders so I open this up to any kind of art you feel is...well, art. Be it of a traditional nature or concept art or even performance art. Sculpture, photography, architecture, graphic design, pin-ups, comics...whatever you like. Whatever moves you and makes you want to look again and again.

My only request is that you refrain from posting your own art here. We have forums for that purpose and we would like for you to use them. Besides, it's a little declasse to toot your own horn in a venue such as this one, lol.

Okay...

*****************************

To open it up I'm going to showcase my favorite living painter, Odd Nerdrum.

Odd is from Norway (but currently resides in Iceland, yes Reykjavik, abaya, you lucky woman, you ) and from early on in his career has been a very controversial figure in the art world. And not for the reasons you might suspect after a cursory review of his work. Odd was schooled in art at a time when 'modern art' was the de rigeur form and classicism was looked upon as old-fashioned and obsolete.

I love his work. It's hard to explain the emotional impact I get from looking at his paintings. It's just one of those things...it hits me as beautiful and vulnerable and ecstatic and powerful and painful and sorrowful all at the same time. And, I find the quality of his work to be not dissimilar from that of my favorite dead painter, Rembrandt van Rijn (I'll post a bit on his work soon, as well, if someone else doesn't beat me to it) - it's in the use of light and dark and the flesh - ah the flesh! - they both capture the most remarkable portrayals of human flesh.

Just to forewarn you, some of his work might be considered disturbing. He is a classicist, but not a traditionalist.

I’ve not been able to track down all of the titles and dates, but I’ve broken the works up by time period because I have a fairly good understanding of the sequence of his works…or at least can identify them usually by their style. His presence on the internet is sketchy at best.

You can especially see his devotion to classical technique and motifs in his early work...


Girl With Red Hair, 1964




The Meeting


The Murder of Andreas Baader, 1978


Amputation, 1974




Woman with Child, 1978

During the 1980’s and 90’s his work consistently depicted a futuristic modern primitive society – essentially remaking the concept of modernism in his own brush strokes. I find these works to be very evocative and haunting. Again, his depictions of the human figure are sublime, transcendent…and vulgar. The man is a fucking genius.


Summer Portrait, 1983


The Water Protectors, 1985


The Cloud, 1985


The Night Guard, 1986


Sole Morte, 1987


Sleeping Twins, 1987


Three Namegivers, 1990


Five Persons Around a Water Hole, 1992


Man Bitten By Snake, 1992


Hermaphrodite, 1992


Dying Couple, 1993


Dying Couple (detail)


Baby, 1993


Barter, 1996


Initiation, 1997


Hepatitis, 1997


Volunteer


The Flock


The Messenger

Some of his most recent works…


The Kiss, 2002


Love Divided, 2005


Love Divided (detail)


Love Divided (detail)


Limbo, 2005


Limbo (detail)

Then to wrap it up…some of my favorite Nerdrum paintings are his self-portraits.


Self-portrait with a Red Scarf, 1972


Man with Headband, 1984


Self-portrait in Armor, 1996


Blue Self-portrait, 1997


Self-portrait in Profile, 1998


Self-portrait as Polar Explorer, 2000

And, of course, I love it when he shows us he has a sense of humor about himself…


Self-portrait As the Prophet of Painting, 1998


Self-portrait in Golden Cape, 1998

Here is a good article about the artist...
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/feature-2004-02.html

And some other information about the man...

http://www.nerdrum.com/works/?catid=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odd_Nerdrum

http://www.forumgallery.com/adetail.php?id=99

[Jack The Lad]

Originally Posted by mixedmedia

Hello.
Welcome to my art appreciation thread.

I am starting this thread, perhaps for my own amusement, but in the hopes that other people will step forward to post images and talk about their favorite artists.

I believe art to be a concept without borders so I open this up to any kind of art you feel is...well, art. Be it of a traditional nature or concept art or even performance art. Sculpture, photography, architecture, graphic design, pin-ups, comics...whatever you like. Whatever moves you and makes you want to look again and again.

Wow! Mindblowing pictures! 'Disturbing' doesn't usually cut it with me - after all, shock is one of the easist responses to evoke, especially where art is concerned - but there is no denying Odd Nerdrum's genuine talent. I had not heard of him before, so my initial reaction, when scrolling down the page, was that I was looking at the dusty paintings of some long gone Dutch master, until jarred to my senses by Amputation...and I suppose it is that effect which Nerdrum is striving for, to make us look at classically styled art with a fresh eye, rather than jaded disdain, and to illustrate that modern art genres do not have the monopoly on the power to offend. I particularly like the vein of blacker-than-black humour that evidently runs through his work - those self portraits seem to mock Rembrandt's similar endeavours - and my favourite piece, The Murder Of Andreas Baader, is grimly amusing when you know its factual context. (I don't believe that the imprisoned Andreas 'shot himself in the back of the head' either).

This is a great idea for a thread - I may post something about Ernst Ludwig Kirchner or Paul Delvaux when I've got more time.

[SecretMethod70]

Neat idea.

My favorite artist is Salvador Dalí...such a character.

"I do not take drugs. I am drugs." - Salvador Dalí

I was going to start off by posting Un Chien Andalou, a 1929 short film he created with Luis Buñuel, but it turns out all the videos I can find of it have been removed

Dalí had quite the ego, and deservedly so: his first exhibition was at the young age of 15. With these early works, keep in mind that he was born in 1904. The first image below was painted when he was 6.

Landscape Near Figueras, 1910


Duck, 1918


Self-Portrait in the Studio, 1919


Cubist Self-Portrait, 1923


Female Nude, 1925


It wasn't long before he joined the surrealism movement...

Dalí was a fan of Freud's work and it heavily influenced his own. In Lugubrious Game, for example, you'll notice scatological references, references to emasculation, a number of vaginas, and much more. It is in the details that I think Dalí's work comes alive.

Lugubrious Game, 1929


He also had an interest in physics and was heavily influenced by Einstein's work, leading to one of most famous symbols: the soft watch, a reference to the relativity of time. Eventually, Dalí's work begins to focus less on Freudian imagery and more on scientific references such as this.

The Persistence of Memory, 1931


Unsurprisingly, World War II (and the time leading up to it) had a huge impact on Dalí, and his work took a much darker tone in this period. This is when some of my favorite paintings of his took place...

The Horseman of Death, 1935


Autumn Cannibalism, 1936


Sleep, 1937


Metamorphosis of Narcissus, 1937


Ballerina in a Death's-Head, 1939


The Visage of War, 1940


Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of the New Man, 1943


The dropping of the atomic bomb brought further influence to Dalí's work, as he became interested in the atomic nature of all things.

He revisited his famous painting, The Persistence of Memory, with this new perspective...

The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory, 1954


He was also developing an interest in Christian imagery...

Crucifixion, 1954


The Last Supper, 1955


There's so much more to show...so many different styles he used...but this post is probably already too long. So, just a few more from his later works...

Fifty Abstract Paintings Which as Seen from Two Yards Change into Three Lenins Masquerading as Chinese and as Seen from Six Yards Appear as the Head of a Royal Bengal Tiger, 1963


Portrait of My Dead Brother, 1963


Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea Which at Twenty Meters Becomes the Portrait of Abraham Lincoln - 1976


The Harmony of the Spheres, 1978


And his final painting...

The Swallow's Tail — Series on Catastrophes, 1983

[mixedmedia]

Originally Posted by Bit of a Dandy

Wow! Mindblowing pictures! 'Disturbing' doesn't usually cut it with me - after all, shock is one of the easist responses to evoke, especially where art is concerned - but there is no denying Odd Nerdrum's genuine talent. I had not heard of him before, so my initial reaction, when scrolling down the page, was that I was looking at the dusty paintings of some long gone Dutch master, until jarred to my senses by Amputation...and I suppose it is that effect which Nerdrum is striving for, to make us look at classically styled art with a fresh eye, rather than jaded disdain, and to illustrate that modern art genres do not have the monopoly on the power to offend. I particularly like the vein of blacker-than-black humour that evidently runs through his work - those self portraits seem to mock Rembrandt's similar endeavours - and my favourite piece, The Murder Of Andreas Baader, is grimly amusing when you know its factual context. (I don't believe that the imprisoned Andreas 'shot himself in the back of the head' either).

This is a great idea for a thread - I may post something about Ernst Ludwig Kirchner or Paul Delvaux when I've got more time.

Oh please do! I'm not terribly familiar with either of those artists.

I'm glad you, well maybe, enjoyed the paintings.

And your observations are spot on, thank you so much for contributing. I have seen other artists take on the style of classic realism, but never as successfully as Odd. He seems to have really captured something special that hasn't been seen elsewhere in the last 200-300 years.

Fantastic, Smeth! I do love Dali, too. And I've seen Un Chien Andalou....years ago. Too bad you couldn't find it.

Some of these I haven't seen before. Awesome.

You know, there's a Dali museum over on the West Coast of Florida. I've always wanted to take a trip there...

http://www.salvadordalimuseum.org/home.html

Might have to do that soon.

[filtherton]

Some of the murals are actually collaborations. Most of the art is by John Grider. I have a few hanging in my house.

[ngdawg]

Dali had a wonderful warped way of looking at things....
I think if I had to 'pick' a favorite artist, it would be Keith Haring. It seems that so much of his work was eerily similar to things I was doing ten years before; I found myself saying "Oh my God, I drew the same thing in the 70's!" at a retrospect of his work a year ago. But there's joy mixed with any implied statement in much of what he did; he drew simply because he wanted to. I suspect people read more into it than what was there many times.
Wish I'd kept the stuff I'd done. I drew this face many times:

I would fill pages until they looked like this:

At the other end of the spectrum, I love VerMeer's work. It's like photographs of his era, but there's a sadness in them somehow.

It's also interesting that he would incorporate a window on the left side in so many pieces.

[mixedmedia]

Wow, filtherton, I love those!

ng, I love Vermeer, as well.
And I'm not as familiar with Keith Haring's work as I should be (although, if I remember correctly, we have a member here who actually knew him). Feel free to post more!

Thank you both.

[noodle]

Dali and Halsman's photos are one of my favorite things to stare at when I need a muse.
In Voluptate Mors hangs in my SO's home office

and

Atomicus will be haning in mine soon


I'll have to dig up some of my favorites.

[777]

Hello. Here's a japanese artist that caught my attention. For those who have played the Final Fantasy game series, you'll recognize his name as the character designer.

Here are people dressed as some of the characters he's drawn (the artist is in the middle)


Yoshitaka Amano http://www.amanosworld.com/html/work.html

Here's a few of his stuff.

From the animated film, Vampire Hunter D


New York Nights from the 1999 "Think Like Amano" exhibition exhibition

Front Mission video game (giant robots at war)

[mixedmedia]

I love Halsman, too, Fredweena.

777, those are beautiful. I have seen some of his work before, but not much.

[roachboy]

nice thread. i had not heard of nerdrum before...very interesting.

i dont have favorites, really, only because things move around too much.
so here are some images that i like.

etienne-jules marey took images of movement on single glass plates.
they are lovely:



bodies dissolve into the continuum of their motion you see.





i like those fine fellows who are art & language.
they have done lots of interesting things.


komar and melamid too.



but there are not so many good images from their work online, it seems.

i like joseph cornell, too.
here are some boxes.






and then there's max ernst.








then there are many other people.
like the bauhuas folk.

moholy-nagy




and paul klee



these days, though, i am fascinated by the way albrecht durer made letters


and cornelius cardew's treatise

[mixedmedia]

Superb. I'm loving this thread.

Later today I will be posting some Gustav Klimt.

[kramus]

A link to a bio of this amazing, influential artist http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/durer/
self portrait from aged 13

Dürer has always been a source of amazement and pleasure for me. He was a prolific artist, and with a deep sensitivity he sought to answer questions as well as make a living at his craft. Indeed, he is credited with being the first true artist, an international figure and a European superstar - before him all artists were considered craftsmen.

copied from ArtCyclopedia:
Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) was the first self-conscious artistic genius in Northern Europe art: a painter, draughtsman, printmaker, and theoretician and would-be reformer of the arts. Dürer exploited the new printing technology to disseminate cheap, mass produced prints throughout Europe. In so doing, Dürer combined self promotion and spiritual values, making him the first international superstar.

Dürer is sometimes called the German Leonardo because of his intellectual curiosity, but there is this enormous difference: while Leonardo was always looking outward at the great world around him to find out how things worked, Dürer was just as determined to look inward and explore the mystery of the human soul.

Dürer was first of all obsessed with his own personality. On the evidence of his paintings and drawings and prints, he was intensely self-conscious and inordinately vain. A famous drawing in silverpoint included in this exhibit, the "Self-Portrait of 1484 at the Age of Thirteen", is a brilliant demonstration of the young man's precocious talent and unusual self-consciousness. Even more audacious, although not included in the exhibit, are the paintings in which Dürer presents himself in the traditional pose and likeness of Christ.

Dürer seems to have invented the genre of the self-portrait, thereby founding a tradition which is one of the greatest strengths of Northern European painters (think of the many masterpieces in this vein by Rembrandt, van Gogh and Max Beckmann).

There is another massive difference between Leonardo and Dürer. In his notebooks and drawings Leonardo, who is so curious about nature and what man has made to harness nature, seems supremely indifferent to Christianity. It is unthinkable, for instance, that Leonardo would paint himself in the image of Christ as Dürer did.

Dürer, on the other hand, had the deepest sympathy with the rebellious strivings of the Christians of his time. He was a friend of Erasmus and Martin Luther both of whom he painted. When push came to shove, he took his stand firmly with Luther.

But as one of the greatest visual artists who ever lived, he must have been completely out of sympathy with the burgeoning iconoclasm of the Protestant radicals. He was the first great Northern artist who had to face the dilemma of the vanishing commission: no more palace frescos, no more church altarpieces, no more grand religious commissions like the Catholic artists in Italy and Flanders received.
.......................

There is a lot of his work out there. He is well worth the time to take a look for it. The man did so much, in so many, many ways . . .

[mixedmedia]

Oh, exquisite, kramus. Thank you so much for your contribution.

[flstf]

Along with the great paintings the masters have done, I have always been fascinated with their quick sketches usually never meant to be seen by the public. I think they portray an insight into their thinking process.

For someone who's paintings are very intensive and who is a master of color, Rembrandt can impart a great deal of information with just a few strokes.

Picasso seems to see the world with the innocence of a child and also can say a lot with a few strokes. The last drawing was done when he was 9 years old. He probably drew some pigeons (his fathers specialty) then turned it upside down to sketch a bullfight scene. Even at nine he was adept at showing the exitement of the crowd with a few squigly lines.

Rembrandt -Two Women Teaching a Child To Walk


Rembrandt - Winter Landscape


Rembrandt - Sleeping Girl


Picasso - Don Quixote


Picasso (age 9) - Bullfight and Pigeons

Originally Posted by kramus

A link to a bio of this amazing, influential artist http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/durer/

kramus, thanks for the Durer picures and links. My favorite of his is "Melencolia". Catches the emotion very well, I think.

[mixedmedia]

Thank you, flstf. I love looking at sketches and studies, as well. Rembrandt, in particular.

***********************************

I don't know alot about Gustav Klimt as far as his story goes. I know that he was born in Austria and that he was a controversial figure in his day for the frank female eroticism in much of his work. Perhaps it is tame by today's standards, but near the turn of the 20th century his portrayals of women as powerful sexual beings (with their faces often showing blatant sexual mischief and arousal) was nearly unprecedented.

Here is a blurb about his style:

Klimt's work is distinguished by the elegant gold or coloured decoration, often of a phallic shape that conceals the more erotic positions of the drawings upon which many of his paintings are based. This can be seen in Judith I (1901), and in The Kiss (1907–1908), and especially in Danaë (1907). One of the most common themes Klimt utilized was that of the dominant woman, the femme fatale. Art historians note an eclectic range of influences contributing to Klimt's distinct style, including Egyptian, Minoan, Classical Greek, and Byzantine inspirations. Klimt was also inspired by the engravings of Albrecht Dürer, late medieval European painting, and Japanese Ukiyo-e. His mature works are characterized by a rejection of earlier naturalistic styles, and make use of symbols or symbolic elements to convey psychological ideas and emphasize the "freedom" of art from traditional culture.

Which comes from this pretty informative Wikipedia article about him:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Klimt

In his early period you will find many beautiful, yet more traditional portraiture than in his later work...I do love his later work, but I find these to be stunning, as well...


Idyll, 1884


Portrait of a Lady, 1894


Allegory of Sculpture, 1896


Sonja Knips, 1898


Portrait of Helene Klimt, 1898 (note: Klimt's niece)


Schubert at the Piano, 1899

Then the style we are all more familiar with...


Judith I, 1901


Goldfish, 1901-02 (it is said that this painting, with the woman's ass pointing out at the viewer, was created to send a message to his negative critics. nize. )


Girl with Blue Veil, 1902


Beethoven Frieze (detail), 1902 (this was painted directly onto a wall)


Hope 1, 1903


Three Ages of Woman, 1905


Water Serpents I, 1907


Water Serpents II, 1907


Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, 1907 (this portrait sold at auction a year or so ago for $135,000,000)


Danae, 1908


Judith II, 1909


Farm Garden with Crucifix, 1912 (this painting was destroyed by fire in 1945)


Mada Primavesi, 1912


Death and Life, 1916


Nice little dirty sketch from 1916...always good.


The Friends, 1916-1917


Adam and Eve, 1918 (unfinished)

[kramus]

Originally Posted by mixedmedia

Oh, exquisite, kramus. Thank you so much for your contribution.

I couldn't let this thread go by without tossing Mr. Durer's hat into the ring

Originally Posted by flstf

kramus, thanks for the Durer picures and links. My favorite of his is "Melencolia". Catches the emotion very well, I think.[/IMG]

You are very welcome. I agree about Melencolia flstf. Gorgeous work. Along with it I have downloaded about 30 images, but that might be overkill to include them so I put the link up there instead.
re sketches - Praying Hands is a sketch for a painting that was destroyed in a fire in the 1700's. I would love to see someone put Michaelangelo or Leonardo or Bernini sketches up as well. I am totally caught by their amazing line.

[flstf]

mixedmedia, it is a shame Klimt's "Farm Garden With Cricifix" was destroyed. I wonder if the style was influenced by Van Gogh.

[albania]

I've come across plenty of good art in my short time, but as I think on it there's only one that I can always remember offhand. It's as if I have an uncommon connection to Käthe Kollwitz's work (Wikipedia article on her). Unfortunately as I don't tend to save anything I don't have any high resolution images of her work. But from what I scrounged up from the internets some of her more popular etchings :

Poverty
1893-94
etching and drypoint


Workers Going Home at the Lebrter Railroad Station
1897
graphite, pen and watercolour


Probably her most famous work.
Woman with Dead Child
1903
etching


Finally, a self portrait late in her life, she has quite a few self portraits if I recall correctly.
Self Portrait Facing Right
1938
lithograph

[mixedmedia]

Beautiful, albania, just gorgeous. I've never seen those. Thanks for sharing them with us.

flstf, I'm not sure if Klimt was influenced by Van Gogh. But, I'm certain that it was a possibility. The timing is right.

[fresnelly]

I'm finding this thread a bit overwhelming. Some of these works are so forceful and unapologetic. I feel very small.

This is a chalk and stump sketch by Henri Matisse called Woman Leaning With Elbows On Table done in 1922. This measly scan doesn't do it justice as it's almost life size and the shading is far more varied in reality. It's part of the Courthauld Collection and I saw it when it toured through Toronto a few years ago. That's an amazing collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterpieces, but this simple portrait the one that stopped me cold. I could have sat in front of it for hours.



I'm also blown away by Ron Mueck's hyper realistic sculptures, not only for their detail, but how he plays with scale and seems to capture stories like the best photojournalists. The sculpture Spooning Couple is about three feet long and was displayed on a podium close to the floor. I approached it from the back and assumed they were sleeping until I rounded their heads and saw that their eyes were open in insomniac stares. It was like I stumbled out of the gallery into their bedroom by accident. My sudden sense of awkwardness and imposition was very, very real.

[mixedmedia]

Wow, those sculptures are amazing.

And I know what you mean about feeling small. I've seen very little of the art that I love in person. I've never seen a Nerdrum painting, for instance. But when I think about it, seeing them in scale...I mean some of those paintings are 10-11 feet tall and/or wide and more! It would be very overwhelming for me to see them in person.

The most important work of art that I have ever seen in person is Van Gogh's Starry Night. And I tell you, standing there just inches away from the canvas, where I imagined Vincent Van Gogh himself would have been standing to paint it, I was totally overwhelmed with emotion - tears welled up in my eyes and it was so very hard to pull myself away from it. Even though there were lots and lots of people waiting to look, lol.

I love that art can make us feel small.

[Jack The Lad]

I'm thoroughly enjoying this thread. I didn't know about a lot of the aforementioned artists, and Kramus has certainly encouraged me to do more research into Albrecht Durer. I adore Gustav Klimt as well, MM. There's something so decadent and luxurious about his paintings. I'm also glad that Salvador Dali is getting lots of recognition. It's incredible how many people I've met over the years who cite him as the reason they first became interested in art - modern or otherwise.

I had intended to post several images of artwork by the German expressionist painter, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, but - sadly - I don't think there are enough of his pictures available online to give a fair representation of his varied output within that genre. However, I found one example, Bathers on the Lawn, which illustrates his striking style of portraiture and bold use of colour:



His Wikipedia entry is worth a look, if anyone is curious to know more about him:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Ludwig_Kirchner

The Belgian surrealist, Paul Delvaux, is also relatively unknown, but I've managed to conjure up one of his typical pieces:



For me, no one captures the essence of a dream quite like Delvaux. His figures often stand like mannequins in the moonlight, oblivious to the subtle iconography of erotica or death all around them, as if to make the point that as human beings we often 'sleepwalk' through our existence, unaware of our own sexual presence or mortality. His settings always imply a silence and stillness which I - personally - find mesmeric.

Here is a link to Paul Delvaux's Wikipedia profile:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Delvaux

[bobby]

some swell stuff in this thread......I like this !







xoxoxoo

[Ergo]

Very interesting thread, I like most works here. However I believe that everyone here tends to mythicize the artists.

This Nerdrum is quite interesting sometimes. Others I don’t see the point copycatting again and again well known classical styles with modern themes besides the technical virtuosity.
Dalí was a genius as a painter but a clown as a salesperson of his own art. I will not overemphasize too much his own circus’ show.
The scene relating how the presence of the paintings “in the flesh” makes you cry just because the hands of the artist/deity were there before makes me question how much the emotion comes from the work itself or from the environmental bullshit.
In other words, how many people would (and in fact did) eat shit signed by Picasso.

BTW, here three works that I like (Miró, Goya, Schiele):

[mixedmedia]

Originally Posted by Ergo

Very interesting thread, I like most works here. However I believe that everyone here tends to mythicize the artists.

This Nerdrum is quite interesting sometimes. Others I don’t see the point copycatting again and again well known classical styles with modern themes besides the technical virtuosity.
Dalí was a genius as a painter but a clown as a salesperson of his own art. I will not overemphasize too much his own circus’ show.
The scene relating how the presence of the paintings “in the flesh” makes you cry just because the hands of the artist/deity were there before makes me question how much the emotion comes from the work itself or from the environmental bullshit.
In other words, how many people would (and in fact did) eat shit signed by Picasso.

Well, hello there.

Thanks for the additions. I was going to bring Schiele up eventually.

If to appreciate a person for their unique vision and ability is to mythicize them, then yes, I mythicize them. Only I'm fully and consciously aware that they are not gods, but all too human. And I like it that way.

As for the 'environmental' bullshit. I'm not quite sure what you're referring to.

For me, I think most of my reaction (as mentioned above) comes from the fact that I have spent so much time looking at these works of art in books without ever seeing them in real life. And I mean all of my life, since I was very young and looking at my parents' art books. Art has added depth to my existence and has been very formative as to my attitudes, outlooks - how I view the world...not to mention my aesthetic tastes. It's momentous for me when I can actually stand there and see the brush strokes and feel physically close to them. If that's bullshit, then so be it. Doesn't change anything for me. Granted, I am not a stranger to heightened emotional experiences, lol.

But please, hang around and post some more.

****************************************************

Now here is a man who has been mythologized by many and dismissed as a simple illustrator by many more. Sure he's no Rembrandt, but there's no doubting his talent as a painter. I especially love how he portrays women. And, much like Nerdrum, his use of darkness and forbidding (or forboding?), let's just say unforgiving landscapes.

I've talked about my daughter, the artist, in my journal. Frank Frazetta has been a major influence on her work...which is obvious when you look at much of it.
































Nah, no social anxieties being played on here, move along...






















My personal favorite.






Self-Portrait


Beautiful portrait of his wife

[DaveOrion]

Well, I was gonna post some art that I'm interested in but after seeing whats already been posted I'm sure my interests would be perceived as.......uh, less than sophisticated, I suppose you could say........

[SecretMethod70]

I'd totally hang this on a wall.

[mixedmedia]

Dave, please don't feel that way.

For myself, I prefer art of many varieties and (supposed) echelons.

This is a thread for everyone. Not a place for judging tastes.

Post what you like and tell us about it.

.................................

Hello, bobby!

I missed your post from before. I love that painting of the buxom young lass.

Any idea who painted it?

..................................

And thank you, too, Bit of a Dandy.

That Kirchner piece is quite lovely.

[Jack The Lad]

Originally Posted by mixedmedia

And thank you, too, Bit of a Dandy.

That Kirchner piece is quite lovely.

I aim to please. Your post regarding Frank Frazetta reminded me of another artist, from the north east of England, who had a gift for painting memorable landscapes - John Martin.











http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Martin_(painter)

I've had the pleasure of seeing some of these huge paintings in real life, and they really are breathtaking.

[mixedmedia]

Wow, those are amazing. I have never seen them nor heard of the painter.

I knew this thread was going to be a good idea.

[mixedmedia]

Well, it’s been a little while since I made one of these entries, but, as you might imagine, they can be quite consuming of time and attention. But I enjoy them, and I hope that some of you guys are enjoying them, as well.

My next post is devoted to one of my favorite portrait painters, Lucian Freud. Born in Germany (grandson of Sigmund Freud), his family moved to Great Britain in 1933 during the ascent of Nazism.

He’s a very interesting figure in the modern art world. His work is uncompromisingly bold and obtrusive, rife with symbolism and, often depict aesthetically unconventional compositions and combinations of color. His specialty is fully nude portraits of both men and women, most of the models being friends and family – and many self-portraits.

It is rumored that Freud has fathered up to 40 illegitimate children, and while I don’t know that that has ever been ascertained in truth, he certainly has fathered many children – including the fashion designer, Bella Freud - with his many lovers over the course of his lifetime.

Lately, he has gained some popular renown for his controversial portraits of a pregnant (and nude) Kate Moss and Queen Elizabeth (not nude ).

Okay, the work…starting, of course, with the early work…Early on his work was usually associated with the surrealists, but going into the 1950’s you can see that his technique slowly begins to take on the broad strokes and heavy textures of his later work.


Girl with a kitten, 1947


Girl in a white dress, 1947


Girl with leaves, 1948


Head of a woman, 1950


Girl with a white dog, 1951-52


John Minton, 1952


Francis Bacon, 1952 (fellow painter and Freud’s good friend until Bacon’s death in 1992)


Hotel bedroom, 1954


A young painter, 1957


Man in a mackintosh, 1957-58


Pregnant Girl, 1960-61


Baby on a green sofa, 1961


A painter, 1962


Man’s head (self-portrait), 1963


Interior with hand mirror (self-portrait), 1967


Naked girl asleep, 1967


Buttercups, 1968


A filly, 1970


Wasteground with houses, Paddington, 1970-72


Factory in North London, 1972 (I really love these urban exteriors he was doing in the ‘70’s)


Children’s playground, 1975


Annie and Alice, 1975


Frank Auerbach, 1975-76


The big man, 1976-77


The painter’s mother resting III, 1977 (he did many portraits of his mother in the 1970’s & 80’s.)


Naked man with rat, 1977-78


Rose, 1978-79


Naked man with his friend, 1978-80


Naked portrait with reflection, 1980


Blond girl, night portrait, 1980-85


Seated figure, 1980-82


Reflection (self-portrait), 1981-82


Bella, 1982-83


Man in a chair, 1983-85


Large interior W.11 (after Watteau), 1983-85


Two Japanese wrestlers by a sink, 1983-87


Naked woman on a sofa, 1984-85


Reflection (self portrait), 1985


Double portrait, 1985-86


Naked girl, 1985-86


Blond girl on bed, 1987


Girl with closed eyes, 1986-87


Painter and model, 1986-87


Woman holding her thumb, 1992


After Cezanne, 1999-2000 (yes, this painting has a peculiar shape – the upper left corner is actually a separate piece that was added on)

And I will wrap it up with a portrait of Freud by his painter friend, Francis Bacon. I'd like to devote a post to him next. Probably one of the most appreciated and reviled painters of his generation.


Portrait of Lucian Freud on orange couch, 1965

[mixedmedia]

It's been a while since I've done one of these...got the itch.

Originally Posted by Francis Bacon

Actually, I'm the most ordinary person possible. It's just that I like throwing myself in the gutter. Every artist wants to throw himself into the gutter. It's part of his life, it's a necessity. You might say that I lead a gilded gutter life, I drift from bar to bar, from gambling place to gambling place, and when I don't do those things, I go home and paint some pictures. I am completely amoral. If I hadn't painted I would have been a criminal...I have always known life was absurd. Life is nothing but a series of sensations...Life is so meaningless we might as well try to make ourselves extraordinary...I think of life as meaningless and yet it excites me. I always think that something marvelous is about to happen. How can I trap this transient thing?

Portrait of Francis Bacon by Bill Brandt, 1963

Francis Bacon, the painter, was born in Dublin, Ireland on October 28, 1909. From what I understand he was, indeed, a descendant of the great 17th century English philosopher of the same name.

The man led a notorious and widely mythologized life trying his hand at many careers from petty theft to manservant to interior design. And, he lived as an openly homosexual man at a time when such a life was lived precariously, at best.

Find out more about the man here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon_(painter)

Francis Bacon's work, in my estimation, is one of the most striking examples of the artist consumed by the idee fixe. He seemed to be preoccupied with his perceptions of the human spirit (as confined by the human body) that border on the monomaniacal. He would paint the same subject again and again and again. Even going so far as to re-paint entire works decades apart from one another. Admittedly his paintings are confusing - many people hate them vehemently. It's no doubt that his visions are not pretty and are often disturbing, sometimes in ways that are difficult to diagnose.

Oh, and he was also a slob. If you look at pictures of his studio, they look like the city dump...

lol, I love artists

Frankly, it took a little while for Francis Bacon to grow on me, but now he is one of my favorite modern artists. You decide for yourself....

His early works seemed to be heavily influenced by Picasso and other established artists of the time, but still there are hints of the iconoclastic style that was to come...

Self-portrait, 1932


Composition, 1933


Crucifixion, 1933


Figures in a Garden, 1936

Going into the 1940's-50's, Bacon began to synthesize and cement what were to become his signature portraits of men, women & animals displayed, most often isolated and awkward or incoherent and fragmentary, in relation to their stark, unforgiving environments.

Man in a Cap, 1943


The third panel from the triptych Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, 1944


Figure in a Landscape, 1945


Figure Study, 1945-46


Painting, 1946 (you'll see this painting again in the 1970's)


Portrait, 1949


Head, 1949


Man Kneeling in Grass, 1952


Dog, 1952


Study of a Nude, 1952-53


Two Figures, 1953


Man with Dog, 1953


Study after Velazquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X, 1953


Figure with Meat, 1954


Chimpanzee, 1955

During the 1960's (and carried on into the 1970's & '80's) Bacon metamorphosed his technique once again, especially with his emphasis on lurid color and the more frequent use of the triptych (three paintings created as a set) as a means of conveying his themes. As time progressed, he modified his use of color, but kept re-playing his fixation with loosely configured portraits and torturously posed human figures.

Pope and Chimpanzee, 1962


Study from Innocent X, 1962


Man and Child, 1963


Portrait of Henrietta Moraes, 1963


Portrait of Man with Glasses, 1963 (also in these decades we see the vast prevalence of head-and-shoulder portraits that will become some of Bacon's best known works)

Triptych:

Left panel

Center panel

Right panel
Three Studies for Portrait of George Dyer (on light ground), 1964 (George Dyer was Bacon's lover and frequent model who met him, purportedly, while he was breaking into Bacon's apartment, lol.)

Triptych:

Left panel

Center panel

Right panel
Crucifixion, 1965


Portrait of Lucian Freud, 1965 (Bacon painted many portraits of his good friend and fellow painter, Lucian Freud, whom I showcased in the previous post.)


Portrait of George Dyer Talking, 1966


Study for a Portrait of Lucian Freud, 1966


Four Studies for a Self-Portrait, 1967
(perhaps based on this concept...)



Study for Head of George Dyer, 1967 (I include this one because it is illuminating as to the technique Bacon used to paint these portraits...I think what he captured with just a few brush strokes betrays the genius behind his particular madness.)


Portrait of George Dyer in a Mirror, 1968


Lying Figure, 1969


Study for Bullfight, 1969


Self-portrait, 1970


Second Version of 'Painting, 1946', 1971


Lying Figure in a Mirror, 1971


Figures in Movement, 1973

Triptych:

Left panel

Center panel

Right panel
May-June, 1973


Self-portrait, 1973


Three Figures and a Portrait, 1975


Figures in Movement, 1976


Figure Writing Reflected in a Mirror, 1976


Portrait of Michael Leris, 1976


Seated Figure, 1977


Landscape, 1978


Painting, 1978


Jet of Water, 1979


Two Seated Figures, 1979


Three Figures, One with Shotgun, 1980


Study of a Man Talking, 1981


Water from a Running Tap, 1982


Study for the Human Body, 1982


Sand Dune, 1983


Figures in a Street, 1983


Oedipus and the Sphinx after Ingres, 1983


Figure in Movement, 1985


Painting, March 1985

Some of Bacon's last works before dying of a heart attack in Madrid on April 28, 1992 at the age of 82.


Man at Washbasin, 1989-90


Portrait of Jacques Dupin, 1990


Study for Human Body, 1991


Triptych, 1991

[shesus]

I missed this thread somehow. After waiting an eternity for everything to load, it was interesting to scroll through and see all the artwork shared. I am unfamiliar with many of the artists. I'm not a fan of some of it, but that's why art is subjective.

I really enjoy the Montmarte period of Parisian art. I have a couple prints of the posters from this time on my walls. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is the most well-known artist from this time. The Chicago Museum an exhibit of work from this period one summer. It was one of my favorites because of the various sketches, posters, and painting.

I really like the behind the scenes painting of the cabaret/theater/brothel lifestyle.

Wiki-wiki is you want to read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_de_Toulouse-Lautrec

A selection of his works.

[mixedmedia]

Wonderful. I love Toulouse-Lautrec! Thanks for contributing, shesus.

I know the page takes forever to load, ugh, so I put a note up top to warn people. When I look at this page I open up another tab and look at other threads while it loads.

[mixedmedia]

It's been a very long time since I posted anything to this thread, but to revive it I thought I would brandish the sexiest, most accessible artist I could think of...and I decided on Gil Elvgren - a very popular (and my favorite) pin-up artist of the 1930's through the 1970's. In particular, I love the way he portrayed stockings...it has defined the way I view stockings and the way they should fit.

And, I also love the way he forms the female body - idealized, yes, but still approachable, friendly, innocent. He captures a proportion in the female form that is timelessly charming and sensual. And in some of them, the flesh is so well-depicted it looks you could reach out and touch her.

These works are in no particular order. I will post every Elvgren pin-up I have...which is not sayin' nothin', lol.

Enjoy. How can you not? I dare you.








oh, this is one of my all-time favorites...I love that bikini bottom









































I usually make this one my avatar around election time.





I have this image on a really old postcard...it looks much better.

[jewels]

Those are great! I'm such a sucka for those old pinup gals.

[Daniel_]

cute girls in stockings. What's not to like?

There's a couple there reminded me of you MM.

Overall this thread is great. Thanks for all of your contributions.

[mixedmedia]

Thank you. I'm glad you've enjoyed them.

I keep finding ones I posted twice by mistake...not sure how I did that, lol.

Should be good now.

[little_tippler]

I can't believe I never saw this thread before!

I have to post. I love so many artists, I think I could go at this for days!

As some of you know I am an aspiring artist and I work in an art gallery so I am privileged to see a lot of art every day.

A few of the artists posted here I didn't know, particularly Odd Nerdrum. What an interesting thread. There's things to be learned every day...

Here are some of my picks - I will not go into extensive biographies for each artist otherwise this prohibitive thread will become even more impossible!

________________________

From Post-Impressionism, and a precursor to german expressionism:

Edvard Munch (Norwegian) - most famous for his "The Scream" painting, he was a very anguished painter and his works were very poignant and full of hidden emotions.

The motifs painted, scenes with figures or landscapes, often expressed his turbulent emotions and sense of isolation from the world through the agitated brush strokes or symbolic imagery.

He also has many paintings on the subject of women which I think are well expressed and ahead of his time (late 19th century).

The Scream:


The Kiss:


The Dance of Life:


Puberty:


Death in the Sickroom (relating to the death if his sister when he was a child):


From Art Nouveau: Alphonse Mucha (Czech painter and illustrator)







From The Blue Rider group:

Wassily Kandinsky - the early expressionist years

Most people don't realize that before Kandinsky became the father of abstract art, he painted expressionist landscapes, which I love. Here are a few:







Surrealism:

I love Dali, but also there is the surrealism of Belgian René Magritte, who has some really great works:

Black Magic:


The False Mirror:


The Lovers:


The Empire of Lights:


And the mathematical art with a high quality of execution in MC Escher:

The Balcony:


Up and Down:


Belvedere:


Eye:


Blowball:


Gerhard Richter, a versatile painter with a diversity and a style all his own. His early work is of blurred figurative paintings, both with and without colour followed by seductive abstract paintings:









I'll post some more on contemporary art later on!