Der Blaue Reiter.

Last class, amongst other things, we discussed Wassily Kandinsky and Der Blaue Reiter.  I found the last subject very interesting.

Der Blaue Reiter means "The Blue Riders" in Dutch and refers to a group of artists from Munich, Germany.  Two of founders were Kandinsky and Franz Marc.  The group formed after one of Kandinsky's paintings, The Last Judgement, was rejected from an exhibition.  The group name came from Kandinsky's painting shown below.

Der Blaue Retier, 1903

The Blue Rider's held a series of exhibitions from 1911 to 1914.  The individuals in the group had different design aesthetics and style, but all agreed upon a desire to express spirituality through their art.

Then, in 1923 four members of the original group reunited to form Die Blaue Vier, or the Blue Four.  There held a series of exhibitions during the following year.  


A collection of works from all the artists in the original Blue Riders was published in the Der Blaue Reiter Almanac.  


*This is Kandinsky's painting, The Last Judgement, that was rejected from the show.

Vishnu.

Vishnu: Hinduism’s Blue-Skinned Savior

Since I am unable to attend the trip to the Majid Al Islam tomorrow night, I went to see the Vishnu exhibition at the Frist Center after class.  It was a wonderful show and I would definitely recommend everyone go see it before it leaves at the end of May.  The show focused on sculpture, textile design, and paintings that featured Vishnu and his avatars.  Vishnu himself is the savior, but also recognized as the creator and destroyer of the universe.  Vishnu is easily recognizable because he is the only god to stand straight and his blue complexion separates him from others.  He is depicted carrying four objects, one in each hand.  He carries a discus, a mace, a chakra (conch shell), and a lotus.  The mace is his favorite weapon while the conch shell is used as a trumpet for battle, to which the sound is said to have left enemies “paralyzed in fear.” 

Avatars allow gods to decent to earth in more concrete forms.  The different avatars of Vishnu represent different aspects of the god.  They are easier for worshippers of Vishnu, called Vaishnavas, to relate to.  Vishnu has ten primary avatars, but on occasion Krishna is included so the exhibition focused on eleven.  I really enjoyed the art related to Matsya the fish because he is the form that retrieved the sacred Vedas and saved the ancestor of all humans during the great flood. 

The ninth avatar was actually the Buddha, founder of the Buddhist religion, which I found very curious.  However, in the Vaishnava tradition, he is celebrated as a false prophet.

No matter the medium, the artwork that was featured at this show was incredibly detailed and ornate.  The carvings often featured a multitude of forms, especially in the arches for the Vishnu figure.  I noticed that the art was very colorful often featuring reds, blues, yellows, and greens with a focus of gold leaf or metallic paint.  There was a work titled, Fragment of a-Lampas-Weave Textile Depicting Avatars of Vishnu that was absolutely gorgeous.  The amount of detail work was truly amazing.  I have looked everywhere online, but have not been able to find it—just another reason everyone should see the show while it is here!  Another common aspect of Vishnu’s form was that he appeared very feminine, like he was gender neutral.  It was interesting to think about. 

At one point there were color lithographical posters from Bollywood production, which I was intrigued by since I am study graphic design. 

Lastly, the final room of the exhibit featured objects and photos from home shrines from Hindu families in the Nashville community.  It was interesting to see how a family made room for a special place in their house.  There was even an area setup for people to sit and meditate.  It was a nice place to sit and reflect after the exhibition. 

*I would like to add more photos, but pictures of some of the work featured at the show are hard to find.  I will try and scan in some from the program itself.  

Eggleston.

Yesterday afternoon I attended the William Eggleston: Anointing the Overlooked exhibition at the Frist.  Eggleston was born in 1939 in Memphis, Tennessee.  He remains one of the most influential photographers of the generation because he brought recognition to color photographer as a legitimate artistic medium.  His photographs are characterized by the ordinary subject matter. 

The show featured works from his early years as well as more recent additions.  I found that a lot of his work featured asymmetry, fragmentation, and cropping.  Many of his works were done using the dye-transfer process, a technique developed by Kodak in the 1940s and widely used in advertising and fashion photography.  This process allowed Eggleston to intensify hues in his prints.  Each image has a series of colors that flowed around the page making the viewer’s eye encompass the entire piece.    

He often grouped work into collections based on the location of a trip or time period.  My two favorite collections that some work was featured from was The Southern Suit Portfolio circa 1981 and the Troubled Waters Portfolio circa 1980.  Here are some of the pictures from these portfolios that were featured at the exhibition.

William Eggleston, Untitled, c.1971-73, from Troubled Waters, 1980, Dye transfer print

William Eggleston, Untitled, c.1971-73, from Troubled Waters, 1980, Dye transfer print

*Most of his photos are actually left Untitled so here is the link to the Eggleston Trust site where I found the following picture. This are from the Southern Suit portfolio.

My overall favorite photograph was  actually one of his newer prints.  It is featured below.

William Eggleston. Untitled (Leg with Red Shoe, Paris), 2007. Pigment print

poster project.

It worked out conveniently for me that this project came along when it did.  There were different options for what we needed to visually/verbally express our poster and I chose the option dealing with favorite movie.  My favorite movie happens to be Moulin Rouge, so it was convenient that there were art nouveau images that were about and even had it written out.  I hope that this entry is interesting as well as informative.  Enjoy!  (There is a quick look list of the different components at the bottom in case you don’t want to read the in-depth explanations). 

1. I broke up my image geometrically like many art nouveau pieces.  I used the same basic design as Ilsee, Princess de Tripoli, a lithographic print by Alphonse Mucha.  I found this image on a slideshow from class.  My post page is divided by horizontal lines, which create rectangles across the page.  The top features an arch encompassing a half circle.  This particular piece was featured in an Art Nouveau PowerPoint.  

2. During the art nouveau movement there was a revival of medieval book style and design that we took notes about in class.  I included a large decorative drop cap like the one featured in The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer by William Morris as well as in other hand illustrated books.  The book mentions how this work with its “system of type, initials, borders and illustrations were combined to create the dazzling Kelmscott style” (Meggs 174).  This piece was shown in our William Morris PowerPoint.

3. Many pieces we saw in class featured woman fitting into shapes; therefore I placed the woman figure inside the semicircle.  She is representing Satine, the sparkling diamond of the Moulin Rouge--Nicole Kidman’s character.  An example of this type of artwork would be the Job posters by Mucha that was featured in an Art Nouveau PowerPoint.  

4.  A major theme during the art nouveau movement is placing the emphasis on the woman figure.  The woman mentioned above is from Eugene Grasset’s Encre L. Marquet, a lithographic print from 1892 that originally was designed as an advertisement for ink.  Much of Jules Cheret’s art focused on his “Cherettes.”  These women were “neither prudes no prostitutes, but self assured, happy women hwo enjoyed life to the fullest, wearing low-cut dresses, dancing, drinking wine, and even smoking in public” (197).  Cheret was dubbed the “father of women’s liberation” (197).    

5. The cancan dancers are taken from Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s La Troupe de Mlle Eglantine, a chalk lithograph with brush and spatter in three colors.  The organic plantlike lines commonly used during this time convey elegance and energy, while capturing the movement of the dancers.  The book mentions that this style of line often pointed towards abstract art because the lines were invented rather than copied form nature (Meggs 195).

SIDENOTE: In the movie, a main Bohemian character is actually names Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa, which is actually the artist’s real name.  In the movie they call him Toulouse for short. In both real life and the movie, Toulouse-Lautrec was a very short in stature due to a growth defect, which caused him to have an adult size torso while retaining the legs of a child.  

      I thought it only fitting to include some of his artwork in my composition since his work captured the theatrical life of Paris with the excitement, elegance and provocative images of the modern and sometimes decadent life of those times.  Here the ladies are doing the infamous cancan dance the Moulin Rouge is associated with. 

                        

6. Another artistic element popular during the time that is featured in our book is the use of shapes becoming symbols.  A great example of this that is used in my composition is Aubrey Beardsley’s The Toilette of Salome, a line block print with ink on paper.  Beardsley reduced the woman’s dress to its most minimal and elemental forms.  It is understood how the shapes work together to create the woman’s dress with limited detail.  The symbols create familiar forms.  I find this style to be simplistic and elegant.  This scene reminded me of parts in the movie where she is getting ready to perform and is dressed in beautiful garments. 

SIDENOTE: The first version of the print is much more sexual featuring hermaphrodites and erotic references. 

     

     

7. Of course I would have to include pattern in my composition because it was a huge component in art during the time.  I included the especially decorative Length of Printed Cotton by Morris behind the main woman figure to pay tribute the detailed pattern in works during the Arts and Crafts Movement in which Morris was hugely apart of.  This work was shown in the William Morris PowerPoint.  

8. A floral emphasis in pattern during the time is prevalent in many pieces we talked about on our PowerPoint presentations.  The pattern featured in the arch above the main woman figure is Rabbit Pattern Printed Fabric also by Morris.  The use of animals such as birds and stylized forms was very common.  This component is discussed more in-depth in our Megg’s book in chapter 10.  It can also be seen in many works by the Kelmscott Press. (I altered the color to fit my composition better).

9. A huge inspiration for the art nouveau movement was Japanese woodblock prints.  These prints featured flattened forms.  Artists like William Bradley created simple and flat images such as Victor Bicycles, Overman Wheel Co.  More information on Japanese woodblock prints can be found at the beginning of chapter 11 in the textbook from pages 190-194.  The man figured pulled from the original piece represents Christian, the young English writer who comes to Paris to follow the Bohemian Revolution and ends up falling in love with Satine.  This work was featured in the Art Nouveau PowerPoint.  

10. Lastly, I wanted to convey the art nouveau component of unity, within each element and within the overall piece.  Even though everything is separate or from different places, they come together to represent my favorite movie.  I have the character represented and have hopefully captured the emotions as well as the energy and movement of the Moulin Rouge itself. 

*The written out “Moulin Rouge” comes from Toulouse-Lautrec’s Moulin Rouge: La Goulue, a lithograph printed in four colors. 

Quick List of Components

1. Geometrically broken up images
2. Revival of medieval book style
3. Woman fitting into shapes
4. Emphasis on woman figure
5. Organic lines
6. Shapes becoming symbols
7. Decorative pattern
8. Floral emphasis, birds, and stylized forms
9. Flattened forms
10. Unity

cheret.

This week in class we talked about art nouveau and I was really interested in Jules Cheret's work.  Cheret was born in 1836 and died in 1932.  He was a french painter and lithographer.  At age thirteen he acquired an apprenticeship with a lithographer.  


During the time, posters were becoming more comkon because a new law allowed posters to be placed in public places.  He began printing vivid poster ads for music halls and cabarets.  


I love the style in which the women in his work are portrayed.  They are lively and elegant compared to previous portrayals of women.  


Here are some of his works that I like:

Saxoléine,
Pétrole de sureté

Jardin de Paris,
Fête de Nuit Bal

Folies Bergères,
Emilienne d'Alençon

Casino de Paris,
Camille Stéfani, 1891

 Isn't she lovely?

Enjoy!

Blake.

This week in class I really enjoyed learning about William Blake.  Blake was born in 1757 and died in 1827.  He was an English painter, poet, and printmaker.  I was most intrigued by his stlye of printmaking.  He used a relief etching technique, printed the design, then added depth and additional color with watercolors.  The style is just so unique compared to anything we have seen to this point.  The watercolor overlay softens the image, yet adds intensity.  Two of my favorite are pictured below.

The Ancient of Days (God as an Architect)
1794

Satan Watching the Caresses of Adam and Eve

1808

This one is an illustration to "Paradise Lost."  

If you hadn't heard of him, I would definitely recommend checking him out.